Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/325

Rh On Wednesday, September 29, about 9:30, the Half Moon and the Clermont will leave their anchorages at 110th Street and will proceed up the river, stopping for a time at Yonkers, Tarrytown, Ossining, Peekskill and Cornwall. On Friday, October 1, these vessels will arrive at Newburgh, where they will meet the Upper and Lower Hudson fleets. The latter fleet will leave New York on the morning of October 1, and will consist of the submarine Costine (the first submarine), twelve torpedo boats and a large number of other ships, divided into six squadrons.

There can be no question that the naval parade with which the Hudson-Fulton Celebration begins, represents the central idea of the whole festival. The spectators, in gazing upon the immense fleet of modern vessels, may find it difficult to realize that the tiny ships, the Half Moon and the Clermont, so faithfully reproduced for this occasion, occupy a more important place in the world's history than will all the gigantic vessels that are assembled to honor the two remarkable men who accomplished so much with such scant resources.

This lesson is especially important in our time, for the tendency of our day is to lay undue stress upon mere magnitude, and to believe that larger ships, larger buildings and larger cities necessarily mark a real progress in civilization. No sane person will deny the fact that the conditions of life have changed and are changing for the better—slowly, it is true—but there can be as little question that the rate of progress would be greatly accelerated if the essentials of civilization