STHE REEDRD-BREAKINB $
I RAEEJF THE ILLINOIS. |
S By Stanliope Sams, Special Corre- <w
S spondent of Collier'* Weekly. w
SHE seemed almost conscious of
the part slie played—the great
battleship Illinois—as she
settled down to her race
through the ocean path that had been
marked out for her to prove that she
.was the swiftest, and withal the most
.terrible, sea-fighter of her class afloat.
She gave the impression that the
beauty and splendor she will some day
.wear had been renounced, and that
here she was to exhibit only her
.winged power of flight and her deadly
strength. So stripped was she that
«very muscle seemed laid bare, and
she was still begrimed with the sweat
of labor that had fitted her to run and
win the race against a hundred rivals
In the navies of the world.
The Illinois, a dull, dingy, gray hulk,
lay beyond the brooding islands and
THE BATTLESHIP ILLINOIS, THE FINEST WARSHIP AFLOAT.
the busy harbor traffic of Boston, on
the morning of June 12. awaiting the
supreme moment that should see her
transformed from a germ in iron and
Steel into a battleship. She had lain
there for some time, and every hour
her picked crew and her shrewd build
ers had made her titter, and stronger
and tleeter. They had let the grime
and dirt accumulate on her decks, and
6oil the creamy white of her graceful
ly curved sides; but they kept the ma
chinery clean and free, and as sleek
with oil as the mouth of a million
gallon "sponter."
The test of the ship had been re
garded by all as a dramatic climax
toward which everything was moving.
Her builders had been preparing her
for this moment ever since her launch
ing on October 4, 189S; and the United
States Navy, which was to reject or
accept her on the result of the trial,
had selected a trained body of offi
cers to witness the race. As if to
mark the occasion as a sort of baptism
of lire, Rear-Admiral "Fighting Bob"
Evans was placed at the head of this
Board.
On one, however, not even her build
ers or her crew, expected that she
would run the marvellous race she
did, eclipsing all records. But after
she reeled off her wonderful speed of
17.31 knots so steadily, without fret
ting or quivering. Admiral Evans said
she could easily be forced to eighteen
knots.
As soon as the members of the trial
board, which consisted of Rear-Ad
miral Evans, Captain C. J. Train,
Captain J. N. Ilcmphill, Commander
Charles Roelker, Lieutenant-Com
mander Charles E. Vreeland, Lieuten
ant-Commander T. S. Rodgers and
LOOK^«''AIIKAP' FROM THE TOP
Naval Constructor .T. J. Woodward,
had made a tour of inspection of the
ship, she left her anchorage in Presi
dent Roads and steamed slowly out
Of the bay. At first she moved with
' extreme caution, as If wnry of the tor
tuous channels, and her helm was in
the hands of a harbor pilot. Then, as
the wide seaway opened before her,
LOOKING OVER THE STERN—HOW THE
BATTIiESHir STIRS CP THE WATER
IN HER BROAD WAKE,
she dropped the pilot, shook off her
swaddling bands, as it were, scorned
all guiding hands, save those of her
masters, and turned her head toward
Cape Ann for her life or death race.
The course of thirty-three knots
had been carefully measured tEe day
before, and was marked by six boats
and buoys stationed at Intervals of
little more than six knots, the total
distance to be gone over twice, out
and in. The path lay directly across
the deep bight in the sh6re-line of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire
and ended off Cape Porpoise beyond
Mount Agameuticus ou the Maine
coast. The gunboat Hist was the first
stake, and the others were, in their
order, the training ships Lancaster
and Essex, the gunboats Newport and
Peoria, and the naval tug Potomac.
Long before the Illinois reached Cape
Ann she had worked up to a hlgti
speed, anil when she swept around
the first stake-boat and swung easily
into the path she had to follow, she
was making more than seventeen
knots an hour. So smoothly did she
rush through the water, without vibra
tion or clatter, that even the naval ex
perts could hardly believe she was
moving at that wonderful speed. Only
the white beaten foam she dashed
wide and far from her bows, and left
in a broad swath behind her, told of
the tremendous poww and speed with
which she was being driven. Admiral
Evans and President Calvin D. Orcutt,
of the Newport News Shipbuilding and
Drydock Company, the builders, who
were on the bridge. Admiral W. T.
Sampson, who watched the first part
of the trial from a station nesjr the
wheel, and all the other naval officers
present, held their watches to catch
the exact time of the start and finish
of the first reach, as if the ship were
a racehorse nearing the wire in a
sharply contested heat.
The gunboat Hist saluted as the bat
tleship crossed the starting-line, and
the great fighter snorted curtly
through her siren whistle in acknowl
edgment.
At this moment, as the Ilflnois had
attained almost her utmost pitch of
speed, she presented a remarkable
spectacle, viewed from her own for
ward flghting-top.
That she could and would make the
speed required by lier contract—sue-
teen knots an hour—was evident to all
from the moment she rlgUted herself
from the turn and moved down the
line of stakeboats that disappeared
lu the direction of the Maine coast.
The crew, from Captain Hanlon and
helmsman and engineer down to the
deckhands, regarded the race as a
personal affair. Each one kneW exact
ly what the Alabama and the Wiscon
sin had and, therefore, what the
Illino' as expected to do, and each
felt the heavy responsibility that rest
ed alike on steering wheel, or engine
shaft, or sack of coal, or on a single
drop of oil.
At the end of the half-course a sin
gular thing happened. Until the race
is finished every power of the ship is
guarded against mishap. For this rea
son, the ship usually swings about on
an easy helm, and reserves the test of
her ability to turn in a small circle
to the very end of the race. But
there was some confusion In orders,
and the ship suddenly came about,
hard a-port. and then as suddenly and
mysteriously swung hard to star
board, like a tipsy sailor. Then she
swung again Inn short curve, nnd
came round, beautifully righting her
self, anil seemed to leap back into
the path for her spurt borne. She
behaved exquisitely under the severe
strain, neither listing too much in the
abrupt swings to starboard and to
port, nor throbbing or quivering under
the immense tension of her engines.
At the finish, the Illinois made the
usual figure "8," to show how quickly
she can turn, and swept a complete
circle within three times her own
length.
Then she dropped anchor again In
President Roads, and the great record
breaking, historic race had ended.
New records had been established,
and a new goal and prize set up for
ON THE BRIDGE DURING FULL SPEED.
all future battleships to strive for.
The Illinois had made 17.31 knots.
But as a fighter? It is not enough
tliat a battleship can steam fast. She
must be able to vanquish her ad
versary after running her down. Can
the Illinois do thisV Let '"Fighting
Bob" Evans answer:
"The English sometimes say we
overburden our ships with armament.
That is what the fighting ship is for—
to carry all the guns she can effectu
ally use. She is a floating battery,
and if the can hurl more weight of
metal than her enemy, and can hurl
it as accurately and timely, she will
win, and the ship is built to win.
She must get to her fighting ground
quickly, and outfight her foe.
"I believe the Illinois can do both.
I believe she is the fleetest ship of
her tonnage and fighting power on
the sea to-day and can whip anything
that can now force her to fight, and
many battleships that she could force
to fight her on her own terms."
The Illinois was launched October
4, 1808, at the yards of the Newport
News Shipbuilding and Drydock Com
pany, Newport News. Va. Her hull is
3t>B feet long at load-water line, her
beam seventy-two feet, and draught
at normal displacement of 11,525 tons
is twenty-three feet and six inches.
Her indicated horsepower Is 10,000;
her speed is 17.31 knots, and her
coal supply is 1500 tons. She will
have forty officers and 44!) seamen
and marines. She has triple-expan
sion twin-screw propelling engines,
capable of 12u revolutions a minute.
Her ormor consists of a belt, four
feet below and three and a half feet
above the load line, of sixteen and one
| half and nine and one-half inches
[ thickness. The turrets are protected
by seventeen inches of ■steel plate.
Slie carries two thirteen-lncli guns
each In her forward and aft turrets,
fourteen six-inch rapid-fire guils, and
a secondary battery of sixteen quicn
tiriug slx-pounders, and four quick
firing one-pounders, and two Colt and
two field guns.
The speed of the Illinois In the trial
race, as given above (17.31 knots an
hour) is the actual time made against
tide and currents. Her corrected
speed, calculated by the Board of In
spection and Survey, is much better—
-17.45 knots. This great speed places
her still further in the lead of Ameri
can battleships, and is her warrant to
rank pre-eminently as the fleetest
ship of her class in the navies of the
world.—Collier's Weekly.
TALLEST IN AMERICA.
Texas Man Who Knjoys a Unique Dig,
tl net ion.
Living on a big ranch of his own in
Titus County, Texas, lives a man with
several claims to distinction. His
name is H. C. Thurston, and he stands
seven feet eight inches in height in
bis stocking feet. Mr. Thurston is a
native-born American, and now at the
age of seventy-one 3'ears he Is still en
joying good health. He wus one of
the original forty-niners, and went
around the Horn and back across the
THE TALLEST MAN IN THE UNITED STATES
Isthmus in the days when the trip
meant something. When the war
broke out Mr. Thurston promptly en
listed in the Confederate cavalry, and
served until the surrender of his regl
meut in ISGS. His great height and
towering figure made him a favorite
target for Federal marksmen, audit
is estimated that thousands of shots
were fired directly at him during the
war. But some good fortune seemed
to ivatch over him, and he was wound
ed but once, and then slightly. In
1871 Mr. Thurston removed to Titus
County, Texas, where he has since re
sided. He is one of the prominent
planters of Mount Vernon In the Lout
Star State, and has refused counties?
offers to exhibit himself as an attrac
tion at a dime museum.
Odd Lock From China.
Probably no objects of greater curi
osity will reach this country from
China, as a resuit of the recent
troubles lu that country, than the loci;
and key of the front gate of the
sacred city of Pekiu, which have just
been delivered to the National Museum
by Minister Conger. The sacred city
is surrounded hy a wall, and in front
of the Emperor's palace is the gate
from which the lock was taken.
The lock, which looks something like
an old-fashioned bassoon, is nearly
four feet long, and consists of a cyl
indrical piece of wrought iron con
: tinucd at the end, where the key is
inserted with a six-inch loop, which
extends back in rod form about one
and one-quarter inches in diameter
parallel with the cylinder passing
through the hasps of the gate; thence,
at about two-thirds of the way,
through the lock guide, which is at
tached to the lock proper. The latter
n
C i
LOCK OF THE SAORED CITY.
is provided with four tumblers. The
cylinder is re-enforced with cast iroa
rings apparently welded on.
The key, which Is about as long as
the lock, is also of wrought iron,
rounded for a portion of its length and
flattened for the remainder. The flat
end has four wards, which, when in
serted in the cylinder, release the
tumblers, thus causing the lock to
open.
The new German cruiser Adalbert
can steam 7000 miles without recoal
ing.
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
lukject: Religion a Great Refreshment
Water Fi»r the Thirsty God a Fouu.
tain of Joy That Is Unappreciated
All Everlasting Well of Gladness.
ICopyritfht 1901.1
WASHINGTON, D. C.—ln this discourse
Dr. Talmage represents religion as a
?reat refreshment and invites all the world
to come and receive it; text, Genesis xxix,
3, "We cannot until all the flocks be gath
ered together and till they roll the stone
from the well's mouth; then we water the
sheep."
A scene in Mesopotamia, beautifully
pastoral. A well of water of great value
in that region. The fields around about
it white with three flocks of sheep lying
down waiting for the watering. I near
their bleating coming on the bright air
and the laughter of young men and maid
ens indulging in rustic repartee. I look
off, and I see other flocks of sheep com
ing. Meanwhile Jacob, a stranger, on an
interesting errand of looking for a wife,-
comes to the well. A beautiful shepherd
ess comes to the same well. I see her ap
proaching followed by her father's flock
of sheep. It was a memorable meeting.
Jacob married that shepherdess. The
Bible account of it is, "Jacob kissed Rach
el and lifted up his voice and wept." It
has always been a mystery to me what he
I found to cry about. But before that scene
occurred Jacob accosts the shepherds and
asks them why they postpone the slaking
of the thirst of these sheep and why they
did not immediately proceed to water
them. The shepherds reply to the effect:
"We are all good neighbors, and as a mat
ter of courtesy Ave wait until all the sheep
of the neighborhood come up. Besides
that, this stone on the well's mouth is
somewhat heavy, and several of us take
hold of it and push it aside, and then the
buckets and the troughs are filled, and
the sheen are satisfied. We cannot until
all the nocks are gathered together and
till they roll the stone from the well's
mouth; then we water the sheep."
Oh. this is a thirsty world! Hot for
the head and blistering for the feet and
parching for the tongue. The world's
great want is a cool, refreshing, satisfying
draft. We wander around, and we find
the cistern empty. Long and tedious
drought has dried up the world's fountain,
but centuries ago a shepherd, with crook
in the shape of a cross and feet cut to
the bleeding, explored the desert passages
of this world, and one day came across a
well a thousand feet deep, bubbling and
bright and opalescent, and looked to the
north and the south and the east and the
west and cried out with a voice strong and
musical that rang through the ages, "Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
wateru!"
Now, a great flock of sheep to-day
i gather around this gospel well. There
| are a great many thirsty souls. I wonder
I why the flocks of all nations do not gath
j er—why so many stay thirsty—and while
j. I am wondering about it my text breaks
! forth in the explanation, saying, "We can-
I not until all the flocks be gathered to
; gether and till they roll the stone from
the well's mouth; then we water the
sheep."
If a herd of sv.'ine come to a well they
| angrily jostle each other for the prece
| dence; it a drove of cattle come to a well
i they hook each other back from the
■ water, but when a flock of sheep come,
! though a hundred of them shall be disap
, pointed, they only express it by sad bleat
; ing, they come together peaceably. We
| want a great multitude to come around
j the gospel well. I know there are those
! who do not like a crowd; they think a
i crowd is vulgar. It' they are oppressed
j for room in church, it makes them posi-
I tively impatient and belligerent. We have
I had people permanently leave church be
j cause so many people come to it. Not so
i did these Oriental shepherds. They wail
ed until all the flocks were gathered, and
j the more flocks that came the better they
liked it. And so we ought to be anxious
that all the people should come. Go out
I into the highways and the hedges and
! compel tlieni to come in; goto the rich
| and tell them they are indigent without
I thegospelof Jesus; gotothe poor and tell
| them the affluence there is in Christ; go
| to the blind and tell them of the touch
| that gives eternal illumination; goto the
| lame and tell them of the joy that will
: make the lame man leap like a hart.
! Gather all the sheep off all the mountains;
! none so torn of the dogs, none so sick,
I none so worried, so dying, as to be omit
| ted. Why not gather a great flock? All
j this citv in a flock; all New York in a
i flock; all London in a flock; all the world
| in a flock.
TTus well of the gospel is deep enough
I to put out the burning thirst of the
| 1,000,000.000 of the race. Do not let tiie
j church by a spirit of exclusiveness keep
I the world out. Let down all the bars
; swing open all the gates, scatter all the
j invitations, "Whosoever will let him
I come." Come, white and black. Come,
| red men of the forest. Come, Laplander
j out of the snow. Come, i'atugonian, out
| of the south. Come in furs. Come pant
' ing under palm leaves. Come one. Come
| all. Come now. As at this well of Meso
j potamia Jacob and Rachel were betrothed,
J so this morning at this well of salvation
j Christ, our Shepherd, will meet you com
j ing up with your long flocks of cares and
i anxieties, and He will stretch out His
j hand in pledge of His affection while all
| the heaven will cry out: "Behold the
1 bridegroom cometh! Go ye out to meet
I Him."
You notice that this well of Mesopota
; mia had a stone on it, which must be re
moved before the sheep could be watered,
and I find on the well of salvation to-day
impediments and obstacles which must be
removed in order that you may obtain
the refreshment and life of this gosfiel.
In your case the impediment is pride of
heart. You cannot bear to come to so
deinocr-tic a fountain. You do not want
to coi <s with so many others. It is as
though you were thirsty and you were in
vited to slake your thirst at the town
pump instead of sitting in a parlor sip
ping out of a chased chalice which has
just been lifted from a silver salver. Not
so many publicans and sinners. You
want to get to heaven, but you must be
in a special car, with your feet on a Turk
ish ottoman and a band of music on board
the train. You do not want to be in com
pany with rustic Jacob and Rachel and to
lie drinking out of the fountain where 10,-
DOO sheep have been drinking before you.
You will have to remove the obstacle of
pride, or never find your way to the well.
You will have to come as we came, will
ing to take the water of eternal life in
any way and at any hand and in any kind
of pitcher, crying out: "O Lord Jesus, I
am dying of thirst! Give me the water of
eternal life, whether in trough or goblet.
Give me the water of life. I care not in
what it comes to me." Away with all
your hindrances of prida from' the well's
mouth!
Here is another man who is kept back
from this water of life by the stone of an
obdurate heart, which lies over the mouth
of the well. You have no more feeling
upon this subject than if Cod had yet to
do you the first kindness or you had to do
God the first wrong. Seated on His lap
all these years, His everlasting arms shel
tering you, where is your gratitude?
Where is your morning and evening pray
er? Where are your consecrated lives?
I say to you, as Daniel said to Belshazzar,
"The God in whose hand thy breath is
and all thy way thou hast not glorified."
If you treated anybody as badly as you
have treated God, you would have made
500 apologies yea, your whole life would
have been an apology. Three times a day
Sou have been seated at God's table.
pring, summer, autumn and winter He
has appropriately appareled you. Youl
health from Him, your companion from
Him, your children from Him, your home
from Him, all (ho bright surroundings of
your life from Him.
Oh, man, what dost thou with that hard
heart? Canst thou not feel one throb ol
gratitude toward the God that made you
and the Christ who oame to redeem you
and the Holy Ghost, who has all these
years been importuning you?
If I could gather all the griefs of all
sorts from these crowded streets and could
put them in one scroll, neither man nor
angel could endure the recitation. Well,
what do you want? Would you like to
have your property back again? "No,"
you say as a Christian man,"l was be
coming arrogant, and 1 think that is why
the Lord took it away. I don't want to
have my property back." Well, would
you have your departed friends back
again? "No." you say, "I couldn't take
the responsibility of bringing them from
a tearless realm to a realm of tears. I
couldn't do it." Well, then, what do you
want? A thousand voices in the audience
cry out: "Comfort! Give us comfort!"
For that reason I have rolled away the
stone from the well's mouth. Come, all
ye wounded of the flock, pursued of the
wolves, time to the fountain where the
Lord's sick and bereft ones have come.
"Ah," says soma one, "you are not old
enough to understand my sorrows. You
have not been in the world as long as I
have, and you can't talk to me about mv
misfortunes in the time of old age." Well,
1 may not have lived as long as you, but. I
have been a great deal among old people,
and 1 know how they feel about their fail
ing health and about their departed
friends and about the loneliness that some
times strikes through their souls. After
two persons have lived together for forty
or filty years, and otje of them is taken
away, what desglation!
I shall not forget the cry of Dr. De
Witt, of New York, when he stood by the
open grave of his beloved wife, and after
the obsequies had ended he looked down
into the open place and said: "Farewell,
my honored, faithful and beloved wife,
'ine bond that bound us is severed. Thou
art in glory, and 1 am here on earth. We
shall meet again. Farewell! Farewell!"
To lean on a prop for fifty years and
then have it break under you! 'l.here were
only two years' difference between the
death of my father and mother. After my
mother's decease my father used togo
around as though looking for something.
He would often get' up from one room
without any seeming reason and goto an
other room, and then he would take his
cane and start out, and some one would
say, "Father, where are you going?" And
he would answer, "I don't know exactly
where I am going." Always looking for
something. Though he was a tender
hearted man I never saw him cry but
once, and that was at the burial of my
mother. After sixty years' living together
it was hard to part. And there are aged
people to-day, who are feeling just such a
pang as that. 1 want to tell them there is
pertect enchantment in the promises of
this gospel, and I come to them and offer
them my arm, or 1 take their arm and I
bring them to this gospel well. Sit down,
father or mother; sit down. See if there
is anything at the well for you. Come,
David, the psalmist, have you anything
encouraging to offer them? "Yes," says
the psalmist; "they shall still bring forth
fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
flourishing to show that the Lord is up
right. He is my rock, and there is no un
righteousness in Him." Come, Isaiah,
have you anything to say out of your pro
phecies for these aged people? "Yes,"
says Isaiah; "down to old age I am with
thee, and to hoary hairs will 1 carry thee."
Well, if the Lord is going to carry you,
you ought not to worry much about your
ailing eyesight and failing limbs.
You get a little worried for fear that
some time you will come to want, do you?
Your children and grandchildren some
times speak a little sharp to you because
of your ailments. The Lord wi'h .ist
speak sharp. Do you think you will come
to want? What do you think the Lord
is? Are His granaries empty? Will He
feed the raven and the rabbit and the lion
in the desert and forget you? Why, nat
uralists tell us that the porpoise will not
forsake its wounded and sick mate. And
do you suppose the Lord of heaven and
earth has not as much sympathy as the
fish of the sea? Hut you say, "I am so
near worn out, and I am of no use to God
any more." 1 think the Lord knows
whether you are of any more use or not.
If you were of no more use He would have
taken you before this. Do you think God
has forgotten you because He has taken
care of you seventy or eighty years? Ha
thinks more of you to-day than He ever
did because you think more of Him. May
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and Paul the aged be your God forever.
But I gather all the promises to-day in a
group, and I ask the shepherds to drive
their flocks of lambs and sheep up to the
sparkling supply. "Behold, happy is the
man who God correcteth." "Though He
cause grief, yet will He have compassion."
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them
all." "Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning." I am
determined that no one shall go out of
this house uncornforted.
So I come to your timid and shrinking
soul to-day and compel you to come out
in the presence of the Divine Physician.
He will not hurt you. He has been heal
ing wounds for many years, anu He will
give you gentle and omnipotent medica
ment.
But people, when they have trouble, go
anywhere rather than to God. De Quin
cey took opium to get rid of his troubles,
Charles Lamb took to punch, Theodore
Hook took to something stronger, Edwin
Forrest took to theatrical dissipation, and
men have run all around the earth, hop
ing in the quick transit to get away from
their misfortunes. It has been a dead
failure. There is only one well that can
slake the thirst of an afflicted spirit, and
that is the deep and inexhaustible well of
the gospel.
But some one in the audience says,
"Notwithstanding all you have said this
morning. I find no alleviation for my trou
bles." Well, I am not through yet. I
have left the most potent consideration
for the last. I am going to soothe you
with the thought of heaven. However
talkative we may he, ' ere will come a
time when the stouti . and most em
phatic interrogation • 1 evoke from us
no answer. As soor s we have closed
our lips for the final lence no power on
earth can break that taciturnity. But
where, O Christian, will be your spirit?
In a scene of infinite gladness; the spring
morning of heaven waving its blossoms in
the bright air; victors fresh from battle
showing their scars; the rain of earthly
sorrow struck through with the rainbow
of eternal joy; in one group God and an
cels and the redeemed—Paul and Silas,
Latimer and Rid« v, Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Payson and John Milton, Gabriel and
Michael, the archangel; lone line of choris
ters reaching across the hills; seas of joy
dashing to the white beach; conquerors
marching from gate to gate, von among
them. Oh, what a great flock God will
gather around the celestial well! No stone
on the well's mouth while the shenherd
waters the sheep. There Jacob will rec
ognize Rachel, the shepherdess. And.
standing on one side of the well of eternal
raoture your children and standing on the
other side of eternal rapture your Chris
tian ancestry, von will be bounded on all
sides by a joy so keen and grand that no
other world has ever been permitted to
experience it. Out of that one deep well
of heaven the Shepherd will dip reunion
for the bereaved, wealth for the poor,
health for the sick, rest for the weary.
And then all the flock of the Lord's sheep
will lie down in the green matures, and
wor'd without end we will praise the
Lord that on this summer Sabbath morn
ing we were permitted to atudv the story
of Jacob and Rachel at the well