The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-03-25
EBENSBURG, PA, THURSDAY MARCH % 1863

old Captain Oaks and his first mate, Sandy
Cameron.
'Captain," said Sandy, ats most over"
"Aye, aye, lad,' said the captain, 'Give
us your fist. We've sailed together good
while now. We seem bound for the long
voyage now. Lord help US, Sandy"
There's chance yet, maybe" said the
first mate. 'Try for it, captain"
NO." said the sailor, ''I go with her
No wife waits for me, no child. She's my
wife and chilrden, all in one. Try you, [
go down with her"
That was the last that Sandy Cameron
saw or heard of the captain. A rush and
roa. nom below, where spirits were stored,
ended the words. Then came blindness
and silence and the time passed for him.
x y X X x
At last there was sound again. The
sound of waters. Light, the red lamps of
the light house. Feeling, that the wet
sand against his face Some strange pro-
vidence had saved Sandy Cameron's life
Bruised and weak, he lay motionless for
long while. Bruised and weak, still he
staggered to his feet at last
Above him-his sailor eye used to re-
member such things-towered well known
rocks kissed by the struggling moonlight.
The sea had flung him into the arms of
his native seaport and up above, man
wandering along the shore, watching the
light house signals, perhaps, was singing
Methodist hymn,
"Theres a light in the window for thee
brother
There's light in a window for thee !"
and then the tears rolled down the sailors
cheeks, and his softened heart yearned for
the mother who had said, "Pll keep light
till ye come back, Sandy"
Twenty years ago, and she was nearly
fifty then. Probably she was dead but
some one might be in the house, yet who
could tell him Of her. And so, in the mid
night darkness the sailor staggered up the
river path-through the changed streets
and, Led by the compass of his heart, to
the lane where his boyhood home had been
SO long before.
The lane was no more-a street of houses
now-but at its end, or he dreampt, San
dy saw candle CLEAN. He drew near.
No fancy misled him. Yes, between the
curtains stood candle, in very truth and
In the window of his old home He stag
gered on. his heart beating wildly He
struck the door with his hand. He wait
ed trembling; and the door opened; at it
stood an old, old woman, with white hair
his mother. He knew her stern strong
features and her blue eyes still
"What's this?" she said, in her Scot
tish accent; and he answered.
GA poor sailor, shipwrecked and needing
shelter"
''Comein," she said, "come in and warm
ye. It's bitter night. The candle led
you here, no doubt. It's burnt these
twenty years. Ye wonder at that ? I'd
boy once. He left me- The candle
burns for him. I've fancy it will vile
him back, yet; and I've gone without
bread many a time to keep it burnin'
The others are all dead; but I'll not be-
lieve he's gone and l said I'll keep a
light till ye come back Sandy-and will. ;"
And then he flung himself upon his
knees before her, she knew that Sandy
had come back, indeed.
He never again forsook her. A better
son and better man than Sandy came to
be, those Of the seaport say they may never
see him again And if you go thither,
they will point you out the little cottage
window az which, strong in her faith for
his return, Captain Cameron's mother
kept a light burning for all the nights of
twenty years-that, and the mansion where,
with her son, now married and Captain of
an ocean steamer, she yet lives to bless him.
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