Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa Territory [Iowa]) 1840-1846, 1844-01-27

q
ny THE REV. MIR. ABBOTT, OF NANTUCKET.
| A man was speaking few days ago Of the
emotions with which he was overwhelmed,
when he bade adieu to his family on his last voy-
age. The ship in which he was to sail was at
Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard. The packet
was at the wharf which was to convey him from
/ Nantucket 10 the ship. lie went down in the
morning and saw all his private sea stores stow
cd away in the little sloop, and then returned 10
his home to take leave Of his wife and children.
His wife was sitting at the kresde, struggling in
vain to restrain her tears. She had an infant
few months old in her arms, and with her foot
was rocking the cradle in which lay another lit
tie daughter about three years OF age, with her
cheeks flushed with barring fever No pen
can describe the anguish Of saeh parting lts
almost like the bitterness oil death, The depart
ing father imprints u KISS upon the cheek OF his
child. -Four ycr,fs will pass away before he will
again take tat child in his arms. Leaving his
wife soebirg IN anguish, he closes The door Of his
house hek.nd him. -Four years must elap.c b.
fore nc can cross that threshold again. One sea
captain upon this island has passed but seven
Years out Of forty-one upon the land.
I A lady said to me a few evenings ago. have
/, been married seven years; and counting all the
, DAYS nv husband has been nj home since our
Y marriage, il amounts to but three hundred amt
sixty days lie is now absent, having been gone
: 6i,eea months; and two years mere must I'M
: tcuhtedly clapsc ere his wife can see his face
= sya.n. And when he shall rctarr. il viii be
merely 10 visit his family for few months,
when he viii again bid them adieu for another
d four years absence.
Iaskea the lady, the other day, how many
letters she wrote TO her husband during the las,
= voyage. 'sone handred,s was the answer
o "And how many did he receive9" "Sx." The
|. iuvariahlc rule is to write by every ship tina,
thst hr hear If tar II
= pacific Ocean. And vet the chances are very
small, that any two ships will meet on thai
t. hcandess eXpanse. II sometimes happens tina
I a ship returns. when those on board have no
;, heard one word from their families during tn,
Il whole period Of their absence. Imagine. then
the feelings Of husband and father, who re
turns To the harbor Of Nantucket, after a separa
!. ton Of forty eight months, during which time b,
has heard no tidngs whatever from his home
> He sees the boat pushing off from the wharves
+ which is to bring him the tdings of veal or wo
le lie stands pale and trembling, pacing the deck
s overwhelmed with emotions which he in vail
endeayors to conceal. friend in the boat greet
a him with smile, and says, "Captain your fami
iy are all WELL" Or, perhaps, he says. "Cap
tain, have heavy news for you; your wife die,
-, two years and half ago.
young man left tn island last summer, leav
'n ing in his quiet home /; yoengand beautiful wife
z, and infant child That wife and child nov
:. both in the grave. But the husband knows no,
: and probably will not know Of it, for months I
- come. He, perhaps, falls asleep, every nigh,
to thinking ofthe loved he left at his fire side
ng little IMAGINING that they both cold in death
On bright summer afternoon, the teiegrap
announces that Cape Horn ship has appeare
in the horizon; and Immediately the stars an
it. stripes of our national banner are unfured frol
ch our flag staff, sending wave Of emotion throug
the town. Many families are hoping that it
l. II. A.. l..
'se all hoping for tidings from the absent. Soon ii
nv name of the ship is announced; and then there
~, an eager contention with the boys to be the fir
- bearer Of the joyful news to the wife Of the car
ed tain--for which service silver dollar is the e
Of tablished and invarable fee. And who can de-
rth cribe the feeling. which must agtate the boso
=, of the wife? Perhaps she has heard no tidin!
ny with excitement she dresses herself 10 meet h
rot husband. SIS he alive says she to herself, :"
a.. am widow, and the poor yhiidrcRsoTphans:
q She walks about the room, unable to compc
herself sufficiently to sit down, eagerly lookiI
IN, out of the window and down the street 81
,ur sees man with hurried. steps, turn the come
no and little boy having hold of his hand. Ne
il is he; and her little sun has gone down to Il
~ boat and found his father. Or, perhaps, inste;
eir of this she sees two Of her neighbors returni
til slowly and sadly, and directing their steps to b
door, The blood flows back upon her heart
=. They rap at the door, II is the knell OF her hu
'ch bands death; and she falls senseless to the oc
at, as they tell her that her husband has long be-
in cntombed in the fathomless ocean.
-. This is no fiction. These are not extrer
' cases which the Imagination creates They q
mo facts of continual occurrence-facts viii
les, awaken emotions to which no pen can do j,
red tice. zsss[
= A few weeks ago ship returned to this islar
= bringing the news of another ship, that she "
al nearly filled with oi that all on board were we
ich and that she might be expected in neighbour
;ch port in such month The wife Of the Capts
-, resided in Nantucket, and early in the mon,
y" with heart throbbing with affection and hoI
hen she went to greet her husband on his retuI
to at length the ship appeared, dropping her :
fer Choir in the harbor, and the friends Of the la
). went to the ship to escort the husband to
y wife, from whom he had so long been separate
at Soon they sadly returned, with the tidings u
to her husband had been seized with the coast
be yer, upon the island Of Madagascar, and VIII
- about a week out, on his return home he die
ism and was committed to his ocean burial. A f
to days after called upon the widow and her lit
daughter in their destined home OF bereavemt
and anguish. essdi