The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1864-12-22
The Old FIshcrmam's Prayer.
by JEAN INGELow.


Who sat and listened to the raging sea,
And heard it thunder, unglng at the cliffs
Az like to tear them down. He 10y at night
And "Lord have mercy on the lads" SAID he,
"Thnt sailed at noon, though they be none ofmine;
For when the gale gets up, and when the wind
Filings at the window, when il beats the roof
And lulls and stops and rouses mp again,
And cuts the crest clean offthe plunsing wave
And scatters tlillc feathers mp the field,
Why then think of my two lads my lads
That would have worked and never let me want,
And never let me take the parish pay.
No, none Of mine my lads were drowned ut sea-
NIytwo--before the most of these were born.
know how sharp tcuts, since my poor wife
Walked up and down, and still walked up and down
And walked after, and one could not hear
word the other said, for wind and sen
That ragged and beat and thundered in thenight--
The awlule.t the longest, lightest night
Tint ever parents had to spend. moon
That shone like daylight OH the breaking wave.
All, me! and other men have lost their lads.
And othcrwomen wiped their poor dead mouths,
And got them home and dried them in the house,
And seen the drft-wood lie along the coast,
That was n tidy boat but one day bask,
And seen next tide the neighbOrs gather it
To lay it on their fires.
Gay, was strong
And able -bodied-loycd my work;-but now
am useless hull; tits time sunk;
lam in all mems way; trouble them;
am trouble to myself; but yet
feel for mariners of stormy nights,
And feel for wives that watch ashore. Ay,ay,
III had learning, would pray the Lord
To bring them I'M but | am no scholar, no;
Book-learning is u world too hard for me;
But am bold to say, 'O Lord, good Lord,
am broken-down, poor man, Il fool
To speak to Thee; butn the Book 'tis writ
As hear say from others that can read,
How, when Thou camest, Thou didst love the sea,
And live with fshcrfolk, whereby tis sure
Thou knowst all the peril they so through,
And all their trouble.
"'As for me, good Lord,
have no boat; am too old, too old
My lads are drowncdi buried my poor wife;
Ny little losses died not longSgo
That mostly forget what they were like such little
ones;
lknow they went to Thee, but | forget
Their faces, though missed them sore.
$50, Lord
was strong man; | haNn drawn good food
And made good money out Of Thy great sea
But yet cried for them at nights and now,
Although | he SO old, | miss my lads,
And there he many folks this stormy night
Heavy with fear for theirs. Mcrcifti! Lord,
Comfort them; save their honest boys, ihcar pride
And let them hear next cbb the blesse dest,
Best sound-the boat-kces grating on the sand.
I Z II al v,rith Hun tlu I
Nothing; have no learning, cannot learn
Too old, too old. They say want for nousht,
| have the parish pay; but am dull
0fheaiing, and the fire scarce warns me through
God save me, have been sinful man,
And save the lives of them that still can work.
For they are good to me ay good to me,
But Lord ! am trouble! andI sit,
And am lonesome, and the nights are few
That any think to come and draw clair
And sit in my poor place and talk while.
Why should they come, forsooth! Only the wind
Kpocks at my door, D long and loud it knocks
The on'y thing that God made hat has mind
To enter in"
Yet, thus the old man spalie,
These were the last words Of his aged mouth,
But ONE DID KNOCK. Cno came to sup with him,
That humble, weak old man. knocked ut his door
In the rough pauses of the laboring wind.
| tell you that One knocked while it was dark,
Save where the foaming passions has made white
Those livid, scething pillows. Whd he said
In that poor place, where lie did walk awhile,
I can not tell but this am assured
Tint when the ncighbors came the morrow morn,
What time the wind had bated, and the sun
Shone on the old mans floor, they saw the smile
He passed away in, and they said, "He l. oks
lie had awoke and seen the face of Christ,
And with thai mnturons smile held out his arms