The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

London illustrated paper. On the open page was a
picture of Rudyard Kipling writing his great
“Recessional Ode.” He sat by a desk, his elbow
rested upon it, his hand supporting his head.
Behind him, as it were upon the wall, was a great
panorama of the British navy. There were the
cruisers “Powerful” and “Terrible,” and the battleships
“Majestic” and “Revenge,” with a host of
half a thousand other craft of war.
But the back of the writer was turned upon
these terrible engines of destruction. He was rapt in
deep meditation. His thoughts were far away. Upon
the edge of the desk lay a partially unfolded scroll
upon which in plain letters was penciled the
thought which occupied Kipling’s mind,-- “A Fleet
in Being.”
A new chord of life and emotion had been
touched and awakened in my soul. I looked at the
dark, disdainful, swirling waters of the great
Columbia. I gazed upon the stern and rocky
headlands, which in places looked as if they were
about to close upon the proud waters, and
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