Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-06-03
LITERARY MISCELLANY.
For the National Era.
AN INCIDENT ON THE SEA sH0RE
by MARTHA RUSSELL.
IcoNcLupEp.l

ny MARTHA RUSSELL.
IcoNcLupED.l
There was something 80 sad, no inexpresslbly
hopeless, in his voice, that for brief moment
il did seem that this were indeed all-then a
bright glow lit up Walters pale cheek, ana no
said:
aNot so. dear vannesse. Old Ulysses teaches
o higher, better doctrine than that, heathen
though he be I"
And taking the book from Adiian's hand,
Ia read the noble poem that bears tho name
of the sage of lthaca--that poem 30 replctc
with kinely dignity, selfconscions power, mel
ancholy fortitnde and manly selt-reliancr, soft
ened and beantified by the memory ct joys and
trials long since lived down" but which have
made him
"Strong to- will.
To strive to seek, to find, and not to yield
Vannesse did not reply for some moments;
and Walter, perchance mstaking the cause Of
his silence, said, reaching out u thin hand, that
was Instantly folded in that Of his friend
"Forgive me, Adrian. have lived fewer
years than you in number; hut suffering,
though bitter, is a rare teacher; and it seems
to me uncommonly cowardly, So to speak. 70
doubt the existence or the goodness OF God "
"a do not doubt the existence Of First
Cause Providence, Creator, Colby what
ever name you choose to Designate it. began
Vannesse, slowly HHc must be an idiot who
does that But what in this speck Of, u world
to an Infinite Being, such az we conceive him
What are we, that he should stoop to interfere
with our affairs, or take no IF our trivalities
Your old Syriac job felt this keenly, when he
exclaimed, What il man, that thou shoudst
magnify him; that thou shouldst set thy heart
upon him that thou shouldst visit him morn
ing and evening" and try him evory mo-
mentp And, M TO his goodness and benevo-
lence, look yonder and, by a glance, he di-
rected ns to where the slight figure Of Bertha
Davenport was slowly tuiling up from the
beach-@there is an argument to the point
What has that young girl dune to be thus
cursed from her birth Endowed if her face
does not belle her, with al woman's restless
yearning for companionship-love- yet
shut of, by that organic Curse, from all but
woman's sorrows. Think you her unbiased
verdict would say much for His goodness 20
For moment Walters face was troubled ;
then, as he caught the love lighted glance
which the girl lifted toward the window where
her mother sat, and saw the spiritual express
sion of tho small, sweet face, his own lighted
up, and, rising and laying his hand on Adrian's
shoulder, he said, earnestly
Indeed, do think TO, my friend. Once,
this same thing would have troubled ME but,
noa0 knoac, Adrian for,
knowledge by suffering entereth,
And lilo is perfected by death"
Chance, as he would callit, gave Adrian Van.
nesse an opportunity to ask these questions
himself in tho course of few days, as the in
cident am about to relate will show
Ii was toward the last If August, when, az
ter several weeks IF extreme heat there camo
one Of those intensely hot days, when the earth
is like one great kiln, and tho very atmosphere
like molten lead. The sea lay fiat, motionless,
pulseless-prostrated beneath The ferceness Of
the sums Iays-the sedges were crisFed and
dry and husky, a. If q fire had passed over
them.
There was no comfort anywhere-towards
night the mir, instead Of growing cooler, seem.
ed to DO stilcr, sultricr, more stfing, il poss;-
BILE, than before, and, leaving Walter on a
sofa, Adrian Vannesse and walked down TO
the Leach. We did not gain much, for the
sand scorched our eyes and our feet besides,
it was g dead low water" and the great bare
muddy flats lay reeking and steaming in the
sup, in all their unsightliness; for, whatever
may DO true OF the great ocean, am certain
that everything cast into the sea near thore
% Suffer sea change
Into something rich and strange"
However, we walked on, until we left the
hamlet behind ns, and reached dilapidated
fish house, which served to shelter the man
who acted Ak Charon in oil our sailing and
fishing expeditions. Oace or twice had pene-
trated into the hidden mysteries Of the place,
for the sake Of seeing the mans bed ridden
mother--a great, gaunt, skeleton of u woman,
half paluied, who sat up in her bunk, sick or
we'll, and net seine.
The man himself was a specimen, both in n
physical and psychological view, not
Lean and lank and brown,
As is the ribbed sand"
like the ancient mariner, but sturdy, and ~
Vulcan himself, with q complexion like the red
Garth of which he was formed; neither had
he the long white beard and glittering cye.v
which wrought such a spell upon the luckles.
wedding guest but beard short, and stiff
and grizzled, like widowed stubble- field, and
light gray eye. overriding by massy shaggy
eyebrows. Rot, like to old Chaucer's Shop
man.
"0f nice conscience, no great care hc pts
nor over bis t,mpcr either, judging from the
many stories we heard cf his fierce, ungovern.
able raee--bursts Of passion that proved him
more fit for the mad-house than elsewhere !;
yot DetgUthffb ntu not ihiitu W bhkt huVhu
tage Of thir infrmity, and had involved him in
lawsuit after lawsuit, and given him one
months rcsidcnce in the county Jail after an
other, nDtil he had been reduced from tho
ownership and mast rship Of pretty schoon
er. to one or two pot sail boatr, and had ex-
changed comfortable home for this miserable
shelter, in which, with his old mother and his
only remaining child, bright eyed boy Of ten,
he cODtYived To weather ont summer and win.
ter.
One ,cdeeming trait Of manhood he had
kept through all--hc was always true to his
word, and on All our expeditions was punciunl
TO minute. For the rest, to quote again from
CHANGER:
In his own craft 70 reckon well the tidcs,
The seas deep currents, and the shoals besides
The suns height and the moons and potage
There was mono such from Hull unto Carthage
Nov he safe on dccaycd piece Of timber
without the hnt with his tarpaulin jammed