The Forrest City times., 1912-04-26
THE PRICE OF ADMIRALTY.

1 LildI you dfe HtlEueu dOHH NIlH tIgl> ] terrible burden that has been thrust i upon Us. May God be with Us and comfort Us all.
 Yours in deep sympathy,
 Eleanor Smith. ' The above letter from the widow Of the chief officer Of the Titanic holds volumes Of pathos in it's few brief | lines
 Since the news 0f the terrible trag- edy of the deep, in which the Titanic plunged to the bottom of the ocean after a collision with an iceberg, carrying with her 1859 human souls, | columns have been written. and the i press Of the country has oyerilowed with words Of sympathy for the pas sengers lost, of praise for those who were saved, for their heroic efforts in saving others, and in condemnation for those supposed to be responsible for the accident.
 In the icy waters Of the North At lantic, where securely sepulchered the Titanic lies, fitting vault for the heroic souls who went to meet their Creator, along with her, lies the bodies of millionaires authors, nota. bles from all the world, and with them large part of the crew of the lated ship. For the noted dead. p9ons Of praise have been written praise for doing what every man born of woman must do-die in the ap- pointed time, and dying as men should die, without craven cry, or coward ly plea for mercy. Of course, Butt. Stead, Astor, ct al, died like men. They were all or nearly all either American or English born good old Anglo-Saxon stock, and it was not in them 10 die otherwise. On the seven seas, wherever flies the Union Jack or the Stars and Stripes and pity. lis that the last named is so infre- quent now il is the rule of the sea. as inexorable as the laws of human life; as fixed as the changing seasons. that the women and the children shall first be saved, and after them if there yet be time, the male passen- gers, and after them the crew. and last of all the officers, and that the one i'll command shall face death to the last minGte-aye the last grim second-alone upon his quarterback. The tales of the survivors of the Titanic tell almost unanimously that Captain Smith. his officers, and his crew he'd to all the fine traditions of English seamapship. and went down to their death with the ship. as men and sailors should And 1t is alto gether fitting that word If praise be inscribed in deatAless marble or i'm perishable bronze, testifying to the valor of these men of the Titanic 's crew Men of their type. the bravest and the tenderest type that breathes. have made England what she is today. and have done much 10 make good her proud title of Mistress of the Seas. The men composing the crew of the Titanic were not on the ship as pleasure seekers. or as crayers after the lure Of the speed maniac; for them, the dread shock Of collision was contingency alwaysto be looked for, always dreaded, and, when il came, 10 be met ill the spirit with which their forebears for centuries back. have fought the mighty sea. and with which they have won for their English mother the title she so proudly bears-"The Mistress of the Seas
 And in the memorial fitting tribute should be paid the members of the orchestra, of whom it is re- corded that they stayed with the ship until the last, heartening those who were facing their loom, with in- spring music until the last awful moments when, aS a requiem to the souls that were passing 10 eternity. the sweetly solemn strains Of Nearer My God to Thee" was played as il was seen that all hope was gone. Hear now the Song of the Dead in
 the North by the torn berg edges
 
 We have fed our sea for thousand
 years
 And she calls Us still unfed. l Though there's never wave of all
 her waves
 But marks our English dead: We have Strawed our best 10 the
 weed $ unrest
 To the shark and the sheeriug gull. II blood be the price of admiralty.
 Lord God, We ha paid in full, There's never food goes shoreward
 now
 But lifts keel We manned: There's never an ebb goes seaward
 now
 But drops our dead on the sand But sinks our dead on the sands for
 lore,
 From the Dacies 10 the Swin. Ii blood be the price of admiralty. Ii blood be the price of admiralty. Lord God. We ha paid il in,