128 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



meccanica piii maravigliosa abbia compiuto la razza 



umana. Piu maravigliosa dell'oceano che essa 



rompe e divora, e alia cui minaccia continua 



risponde collo strepito infaticato dei suoi con- 



gegni : — Tu sei immenso, ma sei un bruto ; io son 



piccolo, ma sono un genio ; tu separi i mondi, ma 



io li lego, tu mi circondi, ma io passo, tu sei stra- 



potente, ma io so. 



Edniondo de Ainicis. 



(From The Future in America) 



"POR example, consider this last year's last word 

 in ocean travel in which 1 am crossing, the 

 Car7nania, with its unparalleled steadfastness, its 

 racing tireless great turbines, its vast population 

 of 3244 souls ! It has, on the whole, a tremendous 

 effect of having come by fate and its own forces. 

 One forgets that any one planned it, much of it 

 indeed has so greatly the quality of moving, as the 

 planets move, in the very nature of things. You 

 go aft and see the wake tailing away across the 

 blue ridges ; you go forward and see the cleft water 

 lift protestingly, roll back in an indignant crest, 

 own itself beaten, and go pouring by in great foam- 

 ing waves on either hand ; you see nothing, you 

 hear nothing of the toiling engines, the reeking 

 stokers, the effort and the stress below ; you beat 

 west and west, as the sun does, and it might seem 

 with nearly the same independence of any living 



