Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-05-30

braver sight than when the little band
box Monitor, seemingly mere toy,
went forth as a shepherd boy to meet
this mighty naval Goliath? Then, aft
er the Merrlmac and the Monitor had
been supposed TO render useless all the
wooden ships as men-of-war. was there
ever a grander sight than when old
i Admiral David Farragut, sixty-five
I years of age, lashed in the riggings Of
4 the old Hartford, led his wooden ships
4 past forts supposed to be impossible,
] over waters invested with torpedoes,
( into Mobile bay, where lay the ironclad
Tennessee. black grimed and merciless,
ready to demolish what might escape
the deadly fire of the forts? Yes such
mighty deeds have always crowded the
! pages of our naval history. In no case
can it be said that the American navy
was ever unwilling to fight its coun-
! trys battles with the material it had
on hand.
Are you and | ready to do the duties
that arise before us, day by day, as
promptly and unquestioningly as the
American navy, as whole, did its
duty? Are we ready to 90 forth
! bravely and cheerfully, no matter how
weak may seem TO be our mental,
physical and spiritual equipment? Do
| you not know that your very conf
dence in yourselves and your willing
ness to go ahead mean already the
( battle half won? When Lieutenant
Dupont was commanded to do GER
| tain thing, at first he failed to carry
out his orders. Returning to Admiral
Farragut, he began to make many eX-
cuses for his failure. BIT the great
admiral turned and said: "Ah, Dupont,
! you have not given me the chief eX-
cuse for your failure. You did not
accomplish what l told you to do
chiefly because, deep down in your
I heart, you did not think you could do
/ 1T" "Then, if that be true" said the
young sailor, 81 will go ahead and
carry out your orders" And go he
did. Are not our failures, my hearers,
due to like cause? If we had the
faith in God that we ought to have
should we not accomplish more?
Sailors In the Civil War.
But the American navy has also been
willing at all times to do its routine
work as we'll as to unlimber its bat
teries and clear its decks in time Of
conflict There is something inspiring,
something terrific and overwhelming,
in the thought of two great naval
monsters coming closer and closer to-
gether to grapple in mortal combat.
What man is there whose cheek does
not flush when he hears about the duel
OF the Constitution and the Guerriere?
What Americans eye does not fash
when he sees Commodore Hull COM
manding his flag officer, Lieutenant
Morris. TO withhold the fire Of his gun
ners until the two vessels were within
speaking distance, then. with cannon
: ..ss.-,o,ssonoors q. to send forth their
est work of navy is not always in
fighting, but may be in patrolllng a
blockade. The victories of u. S. Grant
would never have been won had lie
not had the assistance of the American
sailor as we'll as of the soldier in
blue. The value Of the services the
sailors rendered in that awful conflict
cannot be exaggerated. 1t was they
who intercepted the supplies that the
southern armies so sOrely needed. ltI
was their vigilance that produced the
destituion which not even the sublime
self sacrifice of the southern people
could relieve. Day in and day out
year in and year out, the northern
ships blockaded the southern ports
The southern armies were more
starved to death than they were shot
to pieces by Federal guns.
In all the pages of history you can
not find any nobler record of self de-
NAL and suffering than that Of the
southern lady and the soldier in gray
in 1S62-64. caused for the most part by
the poverty resulting from that mex
orable naval blockade AS | said be-
fore the Southern Confederacy was
simply starved to death by the routine
work of the American navy. Grant
and Lee. sherman and Johnson and
Thomas and Hood Sheridan and Long
street. won immortal fame upon the
land. yet very few people have stopped
to give due credit to the faithful naval
officers and sailors who uncOmplain-
ingly sailed backward and forward i'll
front of Charleston and Savannah ana
the other southern harbors.
Navy Should De HOnOrcd.
Let us ask ourselves if we are ready
to do the necessary routine work of
our lives as the American sailors In the
past have been ready to do theirs.
Are we sulking in our homes and re-
fusing to faithfully perform the vital
daily tasks of an incOnsplcuous lie
merely because the newspapers do not
report the orders we give to the COOK
or tell about how many yards OF cloth
we week by week sell over the coun-
ter? David Farragut had to wait until
he was over sixty years of age before
he had an opportunity to distinguish
himself in battle. If the great Amerl'
can naval officer could patiently. un'
complainingly and faithfully perform
the humber duties of daily life ur III
he was an old man. near to the grave
surely we can afford to be brave ana
true in the inconspicuous duties God
has given us to do.
The American navy should be hon
ored. Upon its glorious muster roll
are to be found the names Of interna
tional statesmen as well as heroic
fighters 49, men who have brilliantly
served our country with brain and pen
as well as with the sword. Many or
our presidents have been elected to the
White House on account of their mill
tary records. Washington and Taylor
and Jackson and William II. harrison
and Grant and Hayes and Garfield are
among the number. But the American
soldier rarely has the opportunity TO
study statecraft as has the sailor. IL
N "