d went as far north
as England, while amid the ruins of Tyre models of boats have been found
with lines as fine as any that any modern ship-builder can draw.

"Nothing of mechanical achievement to me compares with a ship like this
that we are sailing on. Panoplied in steel, with heart of fire, with iron
arms picking up the burden of ten thousand horses; facing the storm and
the night without a quiver except that which comes of its own great
heart's throbbing, buoyant above the beating of the deep sea's solemn
pulses, lighted by imitation sunlight, and making its voyages almost with
the precision of the hours--what could be grander?

"Standing on the deck, with the midnight black above and the ocean black
below, feeling its regular pulse-beats and its onward plunges over its
uneven path; it is hard to shake off the impression that it is a grim
Genie that has come to make ferries of the broad ocean, to draw the
continents with their freights of nations closer together.

"But suppose, Tom, that the onward rush of this ship should bring us
close beside three little ships, two with no decks and the larger one
only ninety feet in length, we would look down upon them with a kind
of pity, would we not?

"Still, with such vessels, the mystery of the sea was first cleared up;
with such vessels, the vail was pushed back from the frowning face of the
ocean; with such vessels, the New World was found.

"It was from over one of those open decks that the cry 'A Light!' rang
out upon the night; it was from one of those decks that the vision of the
New World materialized before the eyes of the great Italian; on one of
those decks he knelt as the vision grew brighter in the dawn, and his
soul was thrilled as souls are when they feel that a visible answer to
prayer has been vouchsafed.

"But the man was there, Jordan; the man who could charm the terrors from
the hearts of a fear-stricken crew; who could convert a meteor's fall
into an augury of good instead of an omen of terror; who could quell the
mutinous spirit which was awakened by a varying needle and raging storms.

"It is not the great ship that counts, but the motives in the souls of
those who build and navigate the ship.

"When on the shores of this sea men first built boats and went forth on
these waters, they were but rude boats indeed.

"Who knows how many were lost, how many brave souls were drowned?

"But each calamity gave new thoughts to those who escaped; they k