Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-08-16

WIZ 0hcMCACO lutlT cries. Women
tainted and men groaned, and despair
was everywhere. mo HOPPER they
cried. "No hopel No hopel We shall
all be lost IN this impenetrable fogy'
Now, the sailors and passengers of
that passing ship may have been as
true hearted people as those who were
aboard the Elder. But they We're not
looking for any shipwrecked crews.
Otherwise they might have acted diff
ferently. IL that ship had known that
any one was In trouble in that sea its
captain would probably have done as
good Captain lessen of the Elder did
He would have tarried there until the
fog lifted. After he had picked up all
the occupants of the boats and RATS
he would have sailed around among
the wreckage until he was sure that
not one man, woman or child was
struggling in those waters Then the
passengers OF that passing boat would
have done just as our passengers did.
They would have helped the survivors
to their own staterooms and placed
them In berths and given them clothes.
do not believe there was a man or a
woman on the Elder who did not divide
spare clothing with those survivors
who came to us almost naked from the
seas. And 1 do not believe there was
q strong, healthy man who did not give
up his berth to some sick man or some
woman or child. When l slept upon
the open deck in order that a woman
might have my berth did Just what
scores Of other men did and no more
than every other man OF that passing
ship would have done had he known
that his suffering fellow men were
struggling In the midst OF that sea.
But the trouble was that the watch
man of that passing ship did not see
those little boats and RATS floating in
the fog. And the great reason why
we do not help those who are strug-
Cling by our side in the fog of life is
because we do not see or hear them.
Is 1t Our Faut7
Yet as l stood and looked at some of
those poor survivors of the Columbia 1
kept saying to myself, us it our, fault
IL we do not see those who are in trou-
bic by our side in the fogs and mists of
life?" Why should 1 give up part of
my clothing and my berth to the ship
"ANNhNN ct sta anu CT IcIuSe 0GlD
clothe the naked who are living in my
own town by my side? Why not think
OF the poor, the lame. the blind, by our
own Preside? "Oh," some one answers.
1.-THE reason we do not feed those liv-
Ing under the shadow of our own doors
is because we think they ought to be
able to make a living as we have to
do" Your answer, my friend, is right
and yet 1t is wrong. Neither God nor
man wishes you to feed loafers and
clothe deadbeats and house social YAM
pires. IF any man does not work,
neither shall he eat" is good sound
doctrine for the Bible and modern So
cial economics. But I want to tell
you bluntly that all the poor and the
unfortunates OF your town are not loaf
ers and deadbeats. There are honest
and deserving poor as we'll as honest
and deserving rich. The poor who
come begging at your door may not be
deserving. Bishop Potter enunciated
mighty truth when he said, 1.-THE de-
serving poor are not those who seek
you, but those whom you must seek"
The deserving poor are everywhere
around you in life. Therefore in the
miSts and fogs of the journey OF life
blow not simply warning whistle.
Keep open your watch eye. Hunt for
the Shipwrecked crews OF the San Pc.
dros and the Columblas. They are CIV.
erywhere around us. Slow down and
look about. God bids us care for his
enfortunates as ne has cared ror ana
loved us.
But there Is still another overwhelm-
ing fact which forced itself upon me on
the fatal day of July. 20, 1907. What
an awful struggle life Is even under
the best condtionsl 1t is not a pleas
ure day sail. as some suppose. 1t is
not voyage over n smooth sea, with
the winds always to the stern, and
happy friends to wave an adieu and
kind friends to welcome us into the
coming harbor. But 1t is a battle, a
struggle. 1t is tossing, tumbling sea.
Saving the Lumber Boat.
No sooner were the occupants of the
boats and the RATS and the half SUBJ
merged lumber ship taken on board
then at once the captain and other Of
hcers OF the Elder turned their atten-
ton to saving the PROV split and leak
Ing San Pedro. Only a year before the
vessel had been sold for 100000. The
builder OF this ship was one of our
fellow passengers, and he told me all
about 1t. Now, cargo was worth
about $4,000. That was too much
money to turn adrift, so, after all the
human lives had been placed In safety,
the sailors turned their attention to
saving the lumber ship. AS it rolled
backward and forward in the sea 1t
looked like human creature in mortal
agony. First they attached between
the two boats long steel rope, but
after the Elders engines had been
started a little while that steel rope
snapped as one would break a spider
thread IN two. Then a couple of ma
Mia hawsers were strung out and they
went the same way. Then the San
Pedro seemed to be turning turtle"
and her own crew deserted her. But
still the captain of the Elder would not
give her up. He sent his first officer
and crew to board her. They broke
one OF the rudder chains and let the
anchor drop into the sea and strung
their chain between the two ships.
Again and again some OF the ropes
would snap, but always another rope
was flung over the chain, and at last
the chain was bound to the Elder by a
steel rope.
All this took hours. The engines
would start and stop The vessel
would roll and pitch in the path Of the
sea- MANY of the DeonIa ware gr11Yn