The Government Coast Guard
THE government report is the sole history of our unpretending "heroes of peace," and a very dry history it is. The story of San Juan Hill has been told in newspapers, magazines, and books in detail and at length. But of nearly twenty thousand wrecks and rescues not a word is printed, save a bare record of the time, place, lives, and property saved. In every instance a small band of men went out to a mortal struggle, sometimes right up to the verge of death. A few went over the verge, so simply and quietly that their names remain unhonored and unsung. They battled alone, far away from towns and cities, and the applause of watching crowds. They had the direst odds to contend with, and no stimulus save that of their own stout hearts and the sense of duty. In nearly every instance they brought to huddled wretches staring death in the face the glory of life, and they gave sunshine and joy to many a home. But of them scarce a word has been told. It is impossible to cite, even a few daring, almost superhuman, rescues; it would be unfair, too, to the rest of the twenty thousand, and, suffice it to say, that in these wrecks, since 1891, more than one hundred thousand souls were at stake and saved with a loss of less than one in one hundred.— December Circle Magazine.