engineer to all the men below him, are longer and more
subject to derangement, than the wires that connect the petty officer
of one fire-room to the individuals under him.

The chief engineer, of course, is not tied directly to his coal-passers,
but to men close to himself; close not only in actual distance, but
in experience, knowledge, and sympathy; men who speak the same
languages as he does, who understand what he means when he speaks,
and who speak to him in ways he understands. These men immediately
under him are similarly tied to their immediate subordinates by wires
of knowledge, experience, and sympathy--these to their immediate
subordinates, and so on.

The same statement applies to the captain in his relations with
the chief engineer. The captain may not be an experienced engineer
himself; but he is familiar enough with engineering, with its
difficulties, its possibilities, and its aims, to converse with
the chief engineer in language which both clearly understand.

The same principles seem to apply throughout the whole range of
the personnel: so that, no matter how large the organization of
any navy may be, there is--there must be, if good work is to be
done--a network of invisible wires, uniting all together, by a
strong yet flexible bond of sympathy.

And has the material of the navy no connection with this bond?
Who knows! Brass and steel are said to be lifeless matter. But
does any naval man believe this wholly? Does any man feel that
those battleships, and cruisers, and destroyers, and submarines
are lifeless which he himself--with his own eyes--has seen darting
swiftly, precisely, powerfully on perfect lines and curves, changing
their relative positions through complicated maneuvers without
accident or mistake? Can we really believe that they take no part
and feel no pride in those magnificent pageants on the ocean? From
the earliest times, men have personified ships, calling a ship "he"
or "she," and giving ships the names of people, and of states;
and is not a ship with its crew a living thing, as much as the
body of a man? The body of a man is in part composed of bones and
muscles, and other parts, as truly things of matter as are the
hull and engines of a ship. It is only the spirit of life that
makes a man alive, and permits the members of his body, like the
members of a ship, to perform their appointed tasks.

But even if this notion seems fanciful and absurd, we must admit
that as surely