Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-08-15

nedI tIat We are HlI1OSt tTeduluR upon
them, and yet as far ms we are con
| cerned they may he thousand miles
aye. ten thousand miles away.
The San Pedro struck the Columbia
about 12:1b n. m. At 1890 the Coium.
bia sank and her passengers and crew
We're struggling In the water. Tvs or
three Of the survivors showed me their
watches filled with water. They had
stopped about 1890 a. IN. For FIVE
| long hours in tho cold and the darkness
the survivors hoated in boats and on
RATS, waiting for the day. The fog
was still blindingly heavy. About
o'clocl; in the morning tho passengers
in the boats saw a large vessel loom mp
| in the distance. II was only few
hundred yards away. "Thank God"
| they cried. I'VE are saved. We are
saved" But instead Of stopping its
engines II moved steadily on and dlsap.
| peared. The survivors We're frantic.
They called. they shouted they scream
ed. But the Waterman on the bridge
saw them not, and the vessel moved
swiftly on and was gone. Then the
fog bank closed down and no human
voice answered their cries. Women
tainted and men groaned, and despair
was everywhere. mo hope" they
cried. 40 hope. No hope We shal
all be lost In this impenetrablc fog"
| 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 shipwreck ed crews
Otherwise they nigh, have acted diff
ferently. IF that ship had known that
any one was " trouble in that sea its
captain would probably have done "a
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 tho 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.
1 They would have helped the survivors
70 their own stateroorns and placed
them In berths and given them clothes.
q
woman on the Elder who did not divide
spare clothing with those survivors
who came to us almost naked from the
seas. And I do not believe there was
Il strong. healthy man who did not give
mp bis lcrth t. some sick man or some
woman or child. When I slept upon
the open deck in order that 4 woman
might have my berth | did just what
scores of other men did ard no more
than vr"" other man of that passing
ship wotl 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 snip 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 II Our Fault?
Yet az I stood and looked at some OF
those poor survivors of the Columbia I
kept saying to myself rs it our fault
If we do not soc those who are in trou.
bic by our side in the fogs and msts Of
lifef" why should | give up part Of
my clothing and nv berth TO the ship
wrecked at sea and yet refuse to help
rlotho the NAKED who are living in my
own town by mv side? Why not think
of the poor, the lame. the blind. by our
own freside? oh" some one answers.
the reason we do not feed those liv-
Ing under the shadow Of our own doors
Is because we think they ought to lie
able TO make n living as we have TO
do" Your answer my friend. is right
and vet it is wrong Neither God nor
man wishes you to feed !oafers and
clothe deadbeats and house social YAM
prcs. III 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 ara not loaf
ers and deadbeats. There are honest
and deserving Door as well as honest
and deserving rich. The poor who
come begging at your door may not be
deserving. Bishop Potter enuncatrd a
mighty truth when he said. 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
nists aud fogS Of the journey OF life
blow not simply warning whistle.
Keep open your watch eve. Hunt for
the shpwrecked crews of the San Pc
dros and the Columbias. They are cv-
erywhere around us. Slow down and
look about. God bids us care for his
1nfortunates as he has cared for and
loved us
But there is still another overwhelni-
ing fact which forced itself upon me on
} the fatal day Of July 20, 1907. What
M awful struggle life is even under
the best conditions. 1t is not Il pleas
ure day sail. as some suppose II ia
} not voyage over a 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 it is a battle, a
! struggle. 1t Is tossing, tumbllng sea.
Saving tho Lumber Boat.
No sooner were the occupants Of the
boats and the RATS and the half sub
merged lumber ship taken on board
then at once the captain and other Of
ficers OF the Elder turned their atten-
ton TO saving the PROV split and leak
| Inc San Pedro Only yaar bafore th q