The Nevada journal., 1856-08-15

FATE OF THE PAcIFIc.-How soon
the whirl of business avoeations and that
occupation of mind which Provi-
dence has kindly intended should be the
panacea for all griefs, make us forget
startling occurrences and great calami-
ties 1t is now six months since the
steamship Pacific left Liverpool, and of
her subsequent fate we shall know moth
ing until the sea yields up its secrets
A little while ago the query on every
lip was "what has become of the Pa
cifc 2" The Newark Mercury we'll and
truly remarks that the heart of the en-
tire nation throbbed with intense anxiety
during all the weary days when the
missing steamer was expected but did
not come-and we were 10th to surren-
der the hope that she would yet drop
her anchor in our familiar waters. But
months have slipped away, and still the
steamer is not here-and the world has
forgotten that it ever watched for her
coming with straining eyes. So brief
are all popular excitements so soon are
all great events and all alarms forgot
ten by the world. To-day we may stand
on tip-toe with strange excitement-om
hearts may beat with the most painful
apprehensions-tears may press THEN
way from every eye, and drops ofagony
from every brow-but tomorrow filings
a pail over all, and we go upon our way
seeking some new adventure-prepared
for some fresh alarm. Yet there are
some who still think of the missing
steamer, and of those she bore with her
along the pathway of the seas. In our
acquaintance there is one circle at least
where despair has folded its raven wing
over the place where one who sailed in
the Pacific was wont to sit when sat
home" In that home, the memory of
those bitter days of doubt and uncer-
tainty, and the conviction which came
at last that the wandering bark with its
precious freight must have gone down to
the fellowship of earth's stranded navies
will always remain as wildly and fresh
ly as in the beginning. And thought,
like the dove from the ark, will often
soar over the great waters where the
Pacific wandered, seeking to gather from
the wave some twig that shall tell of the
place where she went down to her slum-
Der on the sands. All, what a revela-
ton will that be, when the ocean shall
give up its secrets, and the accumula-
tions of ages shall be exposed to the day!
As the Buffalo Express beautifully re-
marks, the pathways traced by the keels
of commerce, lead over the tombs of un-
told wrecks, and the shadows of the
living fall upon the dead, without heed
from the quick above or the forgotten
ones beneath. And ever and anon-in
the bright sunshine or the dark night,
with gentle trade winds tanning the lazy
sails, or laundering tempests splintering
the huge spars and hurting the great
irons as toys in their wrath-ever and
anon another of voyagers goes down to
join the great armada there, below, and
while weary ones on shore grow sick
with hoping for her return, lies with her
comrades of past ages, awaiting the final
hour. And what thought it is, that
here in the beaten track of daily inter-
course between two continents, no less
than in the frozen prisons of the polar
seas, where mans voice is rarely heard,
and the best efforts of mans skill have
been baffled, and the strong barques be
built, surrendered to the mercies of the
wild raging storm and the cruel
iceberg; no less than in the bays of
tropic lands, where overarching palms
make dust the silent anchorage, and gol-
den fruits sway in the evening breeze !;
no less than in the rock-bou fastness-
es OF the southern capes, and the emer-
aid harbors of the coral isles, where 81
renee ana solitude, twin consorts, reign
evermore supreme--the solemn navy
of the dead has squadrons lvino moored
in the grave, all tranquil now, but some
day to be mustered, and called to ouar-
ters and inspected.
| CURIOUS INSTINCT OF Paw,