Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1865-01-27

Roll ON thou deep, and dark blue ocoan, roll
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain,
Man marks the earth with ruin; his control
Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain.
The wrecks all thy deeds, doeth remain
A shadow of mans ravage, save his Own,
When for a moment like drop of rain
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groaD,
Without grave, unknelled, uncofined and unknown.
1t is impossible for one who has never seen
the Ocean to conceive the vast thoughts which
come crowding inupon the mind while contem-
plating it. l have stood upon the beach, and
watched the rolling pillows at their play, ad-
vancing until they kissed the shore and then
receding:: have seen the Ocean in sunshine
and in storm, at sunrise and at sunset-been
afoat upon its waves at midnight, when Heav-
ems artillery roared and flashed, and huge black
waves came up, leaping over our hurricane deck
sometimes even over the smoke stacks of the
engines, threatening to engulf us. Words can
not describe the awful majesty of the scene
1t has been often described and yet is indescri-
bable storm at sea- Old Ocean, wild are
thy waves, and fathomless thy depths; thou art
natures works; beneath thy briny depths are
riches strange and rare, gems and gold, hills,
valleys, caves and glens, and forms that once
were human, they struggled butwere not freed,
giving their lives to thine invincible demand,
their bodies here are laid while their souls went
back to Him who gave them. Think of the
many homes where weary watchers waited long,
and still are waiting for their coming they
come not
How dreadful the thought of being buried at
sea andyet what matters it where our poor per-
ishable bodies are laid? if our souls which new
er die are borne by angel wings to Heaven
1t has been my fortune to witness several buri-
ais at sea. A funeral is at all times impressive;
if solemn on land, it is doubly so on the ocean.
When one dies on ship board, he is soon buried.
Slowly and solemnly, the bell warning all that
the time has come for committing the body into
the great deep; one by one, the crew and pas
sengers come on deck to view the mournful
scene-a burial at sea.
The corpse sewed up in piece of sail cloth,
with lead ana cOn fastened TO the feet, Is lad
upon a plank, with the stars and stripes thrown
over it. It's then brought forward by few
weather beaten tars the bell ceases tolling, and
the Purser begins reading the burial service al
sea of the Episcopal Church. AS he reads,
''We therefore commit his body to the deep, u
one end of the plank is lowered and the body
precipitated into the foaming surge. A little
agitation of the waters, a few bubbles, and ther
nothing is left to mark the spot. Our ship flew
swiftly on its course, the passengers separated
into smaller groups-some speaking of the dead
others recounting their bereavements and few
cast lingering look toward the spot where the
stranger was buried; but all this is soon forgot
ten We only say he is gone, and the wint
and the waves echo the wOrd-gone.
Light be the wind that blows
Above thy manly head,
And voiceless be the waves that close
Above thy sea washed bed
The breeze is rising now
Our sails full proudly swell
| The white foam curls around thy brow,
Farewell--a long farewell"
WARE.
Bellevue, Jan. 2Srd, 1865,