The Mighty Deep 



As surely as the existence of Great Britain 

 depended in earlier days upon the strength of 

 her Navy, so surely does the existence of the 

 British Empire depend in these later days upon 

 her command of the sea. Once let that vanish, 

 and the Empire must fall to pieces. 



A little Island in northern waters, clothed often 

 in fogs, small in extent, crowded in population, 

 without the means " aboard " of feeding its 

 own people ; yet, from that same little Island 

 are extended wide sheltering Wings around the 

 whole globe, guarding her Dependencies, warning 

 off interference on the part of other Powers. 

 So that, in the infancy of many a young 

 Daughter-land, and even in later more vigorous 

 growth, the Children have been protected ; and 

 no man, no potentate, whatever his ambitions 

 might be, has dared to lay a finger on them. 



But the benefit is not all or only on one side. 



As years go by, children repay their parents' 

 care. These young sheltered lands across the 

 Ocean are growing strong. And in the day 

 when the Mother-land found herself in diffi- 

 culties, they joyously sprang one and all to her 

 help, giving freely of their time, their money, 

 their strength, their bravest and best, their very 

 life-blood, in her service. 



288 



