The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-04-17
MANS LOST TITAN.

MANS LOST TITAN.
What mocllcry was the name
Titanic" There was nothing titanic
in her save lust for size, for. speed,
Tor luxurious splendor. In her bulk
alone and the Gildcd iraHpings of a
sensuous cnse lny all the hope OF
security that lulcd forgetfuI pas
senEers into n false rest. She was
show ship, defiance and n cookie
shell when the Icy peril that dwclls in
the deep thrust Its relentless fingers
through her paper sides. and the old
ocean sucked her down among It's
quiet forests, two miles beyond the
sight of man. forever. And there like
broken toy. crumplcd and tossed
aside, she Will rest, while the sight
less monsters and the tiny life OF
submarine Bilences fit through the
tapestried salons and tnlaid perlors.
She was three city blocks in length.
they cay, and carried small city on
her decks But the frost that
wrought swift ruin was gathered from
The billion leagues Of uncharted space,
And the law she obeyed like a docile
servant was tho eternal law that
mon has not conquered, but Just for
gotten Tho titan was q pygmy Yet
even as she sank there was forth
coming evidence of the one titanic
fact in the universc-the unconquer-
able spirit Of the human soul. The
men on the doomed vessel stood aside
whiie the women and children wcre
carried to safety. No epic contains
with that simple list of survivors,
with Its defiant lists OF names with
tho unadorned poetry of mrs" and
Miss" md wife and Children"
While the women and children come
FIRST. vessels may sink and cities fall
heritage OF valor and undauntcd
faith IN the future.
This Is not ohivalry, It Is not even
bravery; 1t is tho formula Of a Greed
thousand lives may be lost. but
among the saved must forever be the
alive until 1t shall have learned 10
use tho laws that for Il time threaten
to ext'nguish II. Pampered millions
aires or pcnniless immigrants, both
answer to an instinct that knows no
nation and no religion.
This is the one clear lesson from
an overwhelming disaster. Men who
go down to the sen in ships still risk
their lives as OF old, but no law of
ice, or water, or darkness can steal
or kill their faith in tomorrow This
alone can afford any consolation in
the face OF catastrophe that has
brought grief and desolation into
hundreds of homes. No single life
has been lost that IN some way can
not be replaced: no talent has perish
cd that cannot be found again. and
tho priceless,.. knowledge that the
heart OF the rrce Is sound is added
to keep alive the flame whereby we
tighten the darkness that surrounds
us.
The loss OF this last symbol of
IL
path for mis- use, on her first trip,
bearing pleasure seekers and rich
men, filed with the pride of their
material possessions, has something
IN Il that makes God seem near at
hand as If moving on the face of the
waters. to check with terrible swift
hand our tnsolent content with the
gifts OF the earth 1t recalls lines
from Rossettrs white Ship:
"And under the winter stars stnl
throng.
From brown throats. white throats.
merry and strong.
The knights and the ladies raised a
song.
A songnay, shrieIs that rent the
sky.
That ieaped Der the dcop,-,he
grieyous cry
OF the hundreds living that now mus,
die
The ship was eager and suckod
athirS-,
BY the stealthy stab Of the SHARP recf
pierc'd
And ike the MOL round sinking
The waters against her crowded up.
with PRAYERS in vain and curses in
The white SHIP sundered on the mia
main:
And what We're men and what was
Were toys and splinters in the scar.
grip
So +