Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1912-05-22
IN MEMIORIAM.

IN MEMORIAM.
Down, down, down, on the floor of
the sea, two miles under the outlaw
bergs, lies the Titanic, a splendid
mausoleum of steel and brass, in
whose shattered hold rests as fair
company of good knights and brave
ladies as ever smiled in the face of
death. Soldier and sailor and mer-
chant prince play-actor and journ-
alist-idler and drudge-peasant
and obleman-Saxon and Norman
Latin and Celt-Slav and Jew
strangers in motherland wrought in
to brotherh rhood-equal at last in the
glory of their end.
There was Stead, whom kings low
ed, but who himself loved the help
less more. There was Millet, whose
paint throbbed with the songs of
souls. And Harris, who climbed
back and gave his place to woman.
There was Butt. the fighting man;
and Straus of the open purse, with
his wife (and no queen was ever
greater, for out of courage sprang all
real nobility.
And there were a thousand more,
and none were less than these Swart
peasants of a hundred tribes-chil-
dren of toll and need-slaves of the
oke-hole-potwashe stew
ards-barmen and BARRIERS; when
and where before was there woven
so mighty memory with such
strange and varied strands of caste?
They told us that the world was
drunk-mad with the wine that
weakens-that ancient stock of
| Sparta and the Macedonian hills was
gones--that the red blood which
coursed in Winkerlried and Reinzi
and the Old Guard and Lawrence and
Hale, was no more; but they We're
wrong-the breed of heroes will new
er perish!
So long as yesterday shall illumin-
ate her tablets with the splendor of
martyrdom-so long as history shall
remember valorous emprise-so long
as the purple tide of nobility shall
scorn the grave and leap the genera
tions-so long as sacrifice shall
quicken pulse and redden heart, the
hour will never call in vain for the
man.
Straight from the dimmest ages,
through evolution and revolution,
down from the hills and up from the
plains and out on the sea, the answer
has always rung.
There is no cause for grief. Save
your sorrow for infamy; weep at fail
ure; moan over treason; but shed nc
tears for the loss of the Titanic.
They are already of the immortal
few whom eternity has kissed. They
wear the accolade of fame; theil
names are deathless.
The human hour is but one beat ol
Times fleet wings. Millions on mil
lions, we pour from out the mother
womb, and millions on millions we
!, sink back to the dust of our making
without one lasting footprint in oul
track, or one enduring thought tC
! mark our passing through.
The longest life is as mote wher
measured with the unborn dawns
: What is a day-what is a decade Il
the hoary stars? Existence was {
| paltry price to pay to fall with tht
, hundred at Thermopylae, to fight il
: 1.-The thin, red line" at Balaklava, o.
: to perish midst the handful at ths
: Alamo.
Those who have gone have bathe(
their souls in the Golden river; thei
children ever after shall be crowned
with PRIDE
To rear grand temples, to cut lith,
: marbles, to heat drab words, to fount
strong creeds, to heal sore wounds
) to build majestic cities, to conque
) deserts, to hew down mountains
} these are splendid things; but to en-
dow posterity with higher standard
7 of manhood is to take kinship will
) the gods.
So long as there are men to or.
| women and children rst,"-so Ion!
) as fear is crunched under the heel o
duty-so long as the laurel burst
, into blossom on fields OF peril-s'
long as humble bandsmen stand upoi
/ sinking deck and, with the billow
i swirling against their breasts, q
, home to the Master, with never ;
/ quavering note. the Almighty is will
: us-there is hope for all and for al
/ time.-Herbert Kaufman in Woman
+ World for June.