Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1861-10-30

"ei iledu through me sKyHRhls INTO tllat very
grand saloon in which We sat but this de.
ponent saw it not a noble dog had worn his
claws off. till his feet bed, trying to keep hold
on the deck through the incessant rolling of
three days and nights, while the tops of the
inasts, Ike clock fingers, described an arc OF
10 degrees upon the sky. Some poor swans
100 were knocked about till they were dead
(Ihe clever draughlsman, who gives the
scene OF the saloon in the Illustrated News,
the truth of which in general | can endorse,
avalling himself Of the license of concentra-
lion, | suppose, has introduced fluttering
swan upon the middle OF the floor y
Sleep, of course, was out of the question
that night. Thoughts OF the final sleep, and
of the great Awakening, were too near to all
minds. Such excitement, such anxiety will
know no rest except in the most wakeful
watchtulness for ali that passes. Besides, it
were u difficult and dangerous matter crop
ing through the dark, cluching at TEACHER
Gus supports, and stumbling upon broken
glass to reach ones state room, when it lay a
long and crooked way off, Safety lay, il any.
wherein staying put in one place. BY strange
good chance, several OF US found our
selves when the great crash began, upon
heavy sofa at one end between two doors
the only thing in the whole room that did not
slide Here we planted ourselves, on and
around this bulwark, women and men, some
seated on the floor, some brsced between the
sofa anu the door ways, some huddled against
the wall built round one of the great smoke
pipes, which screened us from the body of the
room, mutually supporting, compact group
0f score or so, and sat awaiting what might
come-sat through the shocks, the rollings
That tasked all our serength lit steadied the
nerves to have something to do, some effort
sstedly, relentlessy required) through all the
bu "a
ings, as it sometimes seemed, OF Fate; through
rumors OF new disaster and disablement
through tears OF water, fears of fire, or OF cap.
sizing, or OF being thumped to pieces by the
Dombardlng fury ut sea upon sea hurting itself
under and against the sides OF the huge iron
egg shell in which we were rolled and
tossed; through prayers, and terrified eiac.
ulations, and singing of psalms, and
plous exhortatlons working upon nervous
fears; through all the terrors and the
perils of the livelong night until the gray
dawn should unfold our real situation. 1t was
nearly dark all the lights out only the sleu-
der rays of Il lantern struggled through the
ruins ; and the forms OF those who came and
went, staggering, and leaning, and starting
again i'll the briet lulls between the rolls, were
like shadows A ponderous brOuze chande
Her, suspended almost above the heads Of our
crouchiug and tenacious little party, was like
DamOrles sword to us it swung incessant-
ly until it kicked the ceiling. Keep from un.
der, for surely the chain will part like every
thing else among these loose and tiimsy fix
lures But no, it land its lellow) swung on
and held their places steadlastly glass Chin
saved by their yielding, by their rhythmical
conformity, and thus illustrate the fable of the
oak and the oFier in tempest.
All this lime the sense of danger was in
creased, the nerves kept on the strain, by such
an unearthly combination OF noises as was
never heard before. VIII each tilt of
The slip from side to side, it seemed
as ii the whole greedy mob OF uproarious
evil spirits, with the arch demon OF ca
cophony at the head Of them, were let loose
upon us we were at the mercy OF the whole
hungry, naddened meaperie of a snhaqgenus
hell, which roared, and growled, and Missed,
and hideously laughed at us. he daShing OF
all loose things against the walls +; the crash
OF furniture; the scattering IRE OF glass and
urockery and every iinging thing, continually
renewed from all parts; the rafting OF vast
Accommodations Of broken cr0ckery, swept back
and forth in the cavernous spaces of the decks
below and with it the rush and swash of
water, foot or two OF which had got in from
above, strongly suggestive for some time of a
leak the thunderOus rolling back and forth OF
heavy bodies, oil tanks, cables, cannOns, or
what not; the creaking, grinding, wriggling OF
the great smoke chimneys, impatient as it were
to join the dance; the dragging OF chains,
the blowing of sream the petulant, sharp
muSketry OF sails thrashed and rent away by
the wind, the hoarse shouts of the vigilant
and hard tasked crew; the angry surge and
roar of waves and, throu h all and beneath all,
like measured solemn bass, the thunder
thumps of the seas great battering ram, threat
enng breach against our sides, now here,
now there, at each point seemingly concen.
trated with its whole force OF gravity, ringing
and reverberating through the great hollow
iron drum Of a ship with horrible r6n6on,bO.
Odd, too, as well as terrible, when the crazed
sense had got used to the turmoil enough to
think of it Had Hector Berlioz been there,
he would have got several new hints, and
would never rest until he had added number
OF unheard of huge brass instruments to his
monster orchestra, with due descriptions of
their uses in the next edition of a Treatise
upon Instrumentation" And the late Mons.
Julien would have set London ringing with
the "Gleat Eastern Symphony Quadrille."
But it was no time for joking. The peril was
real Destruction threatened every moment,
and many a mind was occupied with swift last
thoughts, of home, OF friends of all that makes
life DEAR as if suddenly summoned to the final
leave taking-and perhaps, o joy tO the
rejoning of dear ones who await US in the
world of shirts