Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-08-09
JOTTINGS FROM
MY NOTEBOOK
BY RALPH NJ. MdRPHETT
NEW LIVES FOR SHIPS
Nays Miracle.
BY GEORGE A. B. DEWAR,


Dumas hero. DR.. Servans, pro-
fessed to bring the dead to life
provided they had not been buried
too long. Today the British navy
performs for dead ships what he
professed for dead men. 1t is COM
ing to this: in time we shall see
an armada of merchant ships which
have lain sheer hulks anything up
to Is or 20 fathoms under the sea
raised from their graves, recon-
missioned, sent on a new career
round the world.
Already more than one ship, sunk
TO her topmast, has been raised,
brought to life, dispatched on a
new career; then sunk again by
the enemy, and raised anew by our
navy, and given yet a third life.
These miracles we owe to the
skill and patience of the salvage
ship. l have examined ships in
all stages of revival; from patch
ed-up convaleScent-wC the best
part of two million dollars-ready
| for final discharge from hospital,
down to a burnt, mined, and shelled
wreck, whose upper decks even in
| low tide are awash.
l saw the pumps at work, little
| submersibles, mammoth motors,
| too, throwing each of them hun
dreds of tons of water out of her.
| saw the divers going down into
! the dusk, wallOwing in the slime,
| to search, mould, patch, shore up,
bung, and to burn off with electric
ity bits of bent and jagged plate.
How Divers Talk to Each Other.
How do the divers talk to each
other? There is only one way.
| They must first touch helmets.
| What its horn is to the ant in con-
versation his helmet is to the diver.
/ Next, how does he hear? He
| presses a tiny button on his he'll
NETS valve; not for long, or his
/ huge waders fill with air, but long
/ enough to shut out the uprOar of
the rotatory movement Of the pump
and produce dead silence. Then
/ he speaks, and every word falls
perfectly distinctly on the ear of
| his fellOw-diver. 1t is the helmet
touch that does it, the mystic con-
tact in the dusk, sometimes in the
absolute dark where these strange
figures grope their way.
The diver is paid high. He may
make today anything up to $500 a
month. He carries his life in his
hand when he goes down. To lose
his cOmposure is to lose that life
A diver lately went down to ex-
anime net A current drove him
halfway through a mesh in the
dark He was foul" To try to
struggle back meant death, and
yet to struggle back was human.
Swiftly and cOOlly he played the
other part He went clean through
on to the wrong side, turned round,
came back through the mesh-and
lived to tell me the story.
0 let US walk the world, SO that our
love
Burns like a blessed beacon beau
tiful
Upon the walls of Iife's surround
ing dark.
There are three lessons I would
write
Three words as with a burning
pen,
In tracings of eternal light
Upon the hearts OF men.
Have Hope though clouds environ
round
And gladness hides her face in
scorn.
Put off the shadow from thy brow
No night but hath its morn.
Have Faith where'er thy bark is
driven
The calms disport the tempest's
mirth--
Know this, God rules the hosts of
heaven
The inhabitants of earth.
Have Love. Not love alone for one,
But man as man, thy brother call;
And scatter like the circling sun,
Thy charities on all
Thus grave these lessons on thy
soul !
Hope, Faith and Love-and thou
shalt find,
Strength when life's surges rudest /
roll,
Light when thou else vert blind. /
SCHILLER. /
Some murmur when their sky is /
clear,
And wholly brightto view,
If but one speck of dark appear
In their clear heaven Of blue; /
lrrt