Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-08-17
CHAPTER XVII.

! IN, Which We Bury Our Dead.
Black smoke was already trailing
from out our funnel in ever increasing
volume, the steadily revolving screw
was DRIVING the ----N+ forward viii
new power. and the only bit OF can.
vas showing was the close-reefed iib,
left as an aid to the wheelsmen.
searched the after-cabins thorough.
~ for . copy of the Scriptures, or any
book containing the burial service.
One might possibly have been discov'
cred hidden away In the locked chests,
but did not feel authorized to break
these open on such quest, and so re-
turned to the deck with nothing to
guide mo In the services to be con-
Quoted. The boatswain. assisted by
two seamen. had prepared the bodies
for their last long voyage. and while
the crew gathered in body on the
snow-covered deck, the dead, shrouded
beneath white sheets, were silently
borne forth from cabin and forecastle
and placed reverently upon planka
balanced across the rail.
should greatly have preferred
Lady Darlington to remain below dur
ing the ceremonies. There is much de-
preston about such burial scenes at
sea, especially so in our circumstances
and surroundings. But she insisted
upon being present, and so at the last
moment returned to the cabin and
escorted both her and Celeste to the
deck. It was q dismal, melancholy
scene. and did not wonder at the
slight shiver with which her ladyship
glanced about. The swiftly descending
snow, the whitened decks. trampled
beneath the feet of the men, the bare
spars overhead; the low-fying, dun
colored clouds; the gray. tumbling
waters; the low growl Of the Ice as
the waves battered its front: the 81
lent semicircle of men standing mo-
tionless except for their stunning feet:
and those two white-draped figures ~
ing extended across the rail-all com.
bined to form grim sea-picture the
memory OF which can never dissolve.
: Protected somewhat from the sharp
wind by the cabin the men had huns
aside their muNlers, so that their
weather-beaten faces. most of them
heavily bearded, were plainly revealed
could not but be impressed with the
motley crowd, as the lineaments Of
negro. Kanaka, and every variety Of
white degenerate were thus exposed
Their uneasy, shutting feet, and the
Impotence depicted ON their faces
aroused me to the requirements Of the
moment. advanced to the rail, stand
ing beside the corpse Of the mate.
Lads" said. soberly, when we
bury shipmates at sea there is q
solemnity about the simple ceremony
unknown to the land. Far away from
friends and home We give the body ur
to the great ocean to keep for eterni
ty. Yet we are sailors. long accus
toned to the vicissitudes and perils Of
the deep; we have parted with ship
mates before in many seas, and not d
few among you look forward to the
time when comrades will be called
upon to perform similar service OF
respect over your bodies. Even now
we sail forward into great danger
and none among us can prophesy what
the morrow may bring of either life
or death. Yet the sea is the sailors
sepulcher, the roar Of the great wavel
his requiem. am no sea preacher
able to address you upon the here
after. or fitted to eulogize the spirits
Of those whose bodies we are about ia
bury. You desire nothing Of the kind
Neither can read over these forms
the usual burial service, for can find
no book containing 1t on board. Il