Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1912-05-18
THE GREAT WHITE
sHfP OF THE NORTH

Forth into the Ocean hurled tn,
mighty mass Of steel and proudly rod,
the great Titanic, largest ship in th,
world, equipped with the magic meant
of conquering wind and wave. Deer
in her bunkers lay the carbonized treas
ures of the forests of ages gone, nov
wrssted from Earth's bosom by man.
searching power and lying inert bu,
potential to feed the fires of the might,
engines and drive the trapped vapol
against the masses of steel that sem
propellers whirling in angry and con.
quering conflict with the restless wave,
of Ocean.
Man, conquering, majestic being, mas
ter Of the air and master of the wave
aoatsd his mightiest craft on the bosom
Of the Atlantic and gave the signal fol
her dart across the wide, wide Ocean
The way was long. but art had made il
short. The wind might roar, the seas
might hurl themselves mountain-high,
but the great ship would spring forward
through the gigantic waves, driven by
the lash Of the energy that mans ingen.
nuity had transformed from it's stored
state into driving force of restless
power.
The passengers we're joyful to be upon
such mighty ship. The luxury and
ease and safety of Ocean travel were
never to be better demonstrated than in
the cruise of the great Titanic. Her
very name spoke power. Her great
bulk, her rush through the waters told
Of might, Of resistlsss force. Aye, OF
resistless furce against fluid water, against
storm-tossed air. And through the roll
ing seas on went the great and hand
some craft. Captain, passengers, crew,
were supremely confident of her success,
of her unsurpassed qualities for speed,
endurance and safety.
But out of the North, silent, white,
lazily moving came another ship. With
out captain, without crew, without O
passenger, adown Oceans current came
the White Ship of the North. No black
cloud Of smoke marked its course on the
horizon. No rushing foam followed its
wake. When the sun cleaned upon the
White Ship Of the North, myriad Of
diamonds seemed to fash upon its sur
face. Beauty besparkled its outline and
bedecked its rugged, stately lines. And
thus the White Ship Of the North, with
out master, crew or passenger. sailed,
bulkily, lazily, dreamily, south. When
the suns rays did not fash upon the
great white mass the beauteous sparkle
was gone. Grim, gray, ghastly, dull,
fearsome and cold, was the look of the
ship when no golden warmth overshot
it's outlines. Silent cold, without music,
mirth or laughter, with no hopes ol
human hearts upon the Ship of the
North, it went on southwark, ever south.
ward.
Through the night rushed the Titanic,
spinning the yielding Ocean, beating il
into helpless wrath with its mighty pro.
pellers, leaving frothy, angry Ocean in
its wake. Like a monarch the great
ship rode over its vassal, its subject, old
Ocean. The blue water recoiled before
the mighty prov of the ship, parted be.
fore the rushing mass of steel, retreatet
and then, kissing and churning, rushed
in again to take its place when the grea
ship had passed through and on.
The Ocean conquered? Not yet. The
rushing black ship spinning the waves O.
Ocean hurls itself against dim, ghostl,
mass that rises hugely out of the deep
The mass ahead is the great White ShiI
of the North. A tremendous crash, I
mighty vibration, ripping cracking
rending Of steel, and the great blacl
ship of man reels, staggers, breaks, ant
the great White Ship of the North move
lazily onward.
The test has come. The fluid waite
was beaten and spurned, defeated b.
the black ship of man. But the soil,
water, massed in the great iceberg, cap
tainless, crewless, silent and grim, ha
borne to mans mind the mastery of tn,
sea over mans mightiest efforts. TIVE
ships rode through the night One wa
fashioned by the hand of God: Th'
other by the hand of man. Out of tn,
collision comes the Ship of the North
undisturbed. Out Of the collision Gomez
the ship of man sinking and reeling
and plunges beneath the surface of ole
Ocean, conquered and beaten.
Oh, the tragedy of the Titanic's fate
The ways of the sea are known. Th,
dangers have often been counted. TIVE
thousand souls on board the queenly
vessel and hours left between tn,
time of disaster and the vessels plung,
to the bottom, yet there are not boat
enough or safety appliances to give bel
passengers the castaway's chance fol
life. Wealth and poverty alike, in tha
dreadful hour, suffered because of man.
greed-"man's inhumanity to man,
which failed and UNANIMOUSLY failed. t.
provide sufficient boats or RATS to per
NIT the entire ships company to 60
cape.
They who journey by way of the ses
must ever remember the inscrutabl,
mystery of the deep. They who dice
are beyond recall. The Titanics fat,
sweeps the world with great heart
throb of sympathy. However, God hal
showed mercy to those who went down
for all of them-so the survivors tell us
turned to God in prayer. In the face o
death-Infidelity, Atheism, and Indif
ferentism in religion. remain dumb. i