Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-13
THE COUNTRY HOME
CONDUCTED 81, MRS W.. FELTON,
To HOE OVER TME OCEAN

Our Biographies tell us that the At
lantic ocean is over 5000 miles wide.
! 1t was a very wide stretch of salt
water, when sailing vessels made the
! trip, going and coming. We read of
the long trips. covering months
| that used to be--and those who adj
ventured across the ocean always
understood that there were risks
that should be carefully considered,
before the undertaking was decided
upon. OF course nobody bought pas
sage tickets expecting certain death.
but the fact remains, great many
never saw the land any more.
| After steamships were set agoing
there have been ships that disa ppear-
ed. never heard from, some of them
| freighted with hundreds of human
! lives.
The story Of the sinking of the
! Titanic a few years ago, is still IN
| teresting to read and talk about.
1t started from the other side. herald
| ed as an unsuitable ship. 1t had so
many watertight compartments that
| it was considered the latest thought
in shipbuilding. Scores of people de-
layed a return voyage to America
to take passage Oh the Titanic, which
would not sink, no matter how many
storms assailed the great ocean liner.
We all know what happened. One
fateful Sunday night when the great
vessel was crowded with gay people
eating, drinking, dancing, carousing
and perfectly satisfied as to their
own safety, a big, low-lying iceberg
doomed up close by, and the iceberg
cut a cash in the belly of the great
leviathan as neatly and as quickly
as your grocer cuts off a slice of
cheese upon demand, and the far
famed watertight compartments were
of no more security than a box of
cheese might have been. I read the
evidence called forth during a con-
gressional investigation. A fireman
who marvelously escaped, was down
in the bowels Of the ship, feeding
coal to the furnaces, to secure fine
oath that he saw the iceberg cut its
way below the waterline in min
ute of time and the waters of the
Atlantic ocean had free course to
sink the gigantic ocean liner, and he
saw the boilers, red hot exploding,
ton where he was, and the merr!-
ment at full blast high overhead. How
| he escaped from that inferno of heat
and flame he could hardly explain,
| but he did make his way up and out
and was able to tell of his experience.
For several weeks some airships
have been intending to try the expert
ment of air travel across the Allan
! tic. Foggy weather has been given
as cause for delay. 1t is set down
as a certainty that these airships
will soon make the venture. Like
strong winged birds, they expect to
make a hundred miles where great
ocean liners could only make one mile
| on the surface of the ocean. The
trip must be an incredibly short one,
to secure public favor. If it is not
a fast trip nobody will care to risk
the trip any more. Much, therefore,
hangs upon the proposed venture. 1t
was a great victory when steam YES
sells came along, to make sailing yes
sells look very slow and poky: When
the Atlantic cable was laid people
said nothing so great has ever been
seen in the earth" The first message
was sent from the queen of England
! to the president of the United States.
and was what wonders hath God
| wrought"
Then the wireless telegraph made
the civilized world sit up and take
notice.
Now we are watching the weather
| and holding our breath" so to
speak, while the airship rushes
| through the air and carries men and
mails from the Newfoundland shores
| to the English coast-and far above
all shipping craft, of greater or less
degree, that is traversing the waters
of the. Atlantic.
There are always daring adventur-
Gus persons who crave the excite
| ment which attends dangerous under
| takings.
Hundreds of lives have been lost
in climbing the Alps. 1t is always a
dangerous thing to attempt. But the
excitement which goes with great
danger is the unceasing lure.
Doubtless many airships will foun-
der in the Atlantic ocean before you
or I, dear reader, will buy a ticket
for a seat in a transatlantic air
ship But there are people who will
be glad to attempt it. The very ex-
citement of constant danger will
| make them anxious to be there, and
| they will take all the risks.