The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-03-25

doing great things for those at home, was
in his mind, or he believed so, but sell
fish desire to escape the drudgery and the
restraint gave the actual impulse to his
steps. He shipped as sailor the next
day, and began in earnest a wild and
reckless sailors life.
It suited him. Now and then when
the storm was at its height, and far in the
distance the lamps of some tall lighthouse
shone like great red eye, the tiny flicker
of that window sheltered candle would
dawn upon his memory, and he would
hear his mothers voice saying, '1I keep
it burning till ye come, Sandy" Now
and then amidst the yarns and songs of
the forecastle merry making, he heard the
grooming of the tunes she used to sing over
her work-old Scottish ballads, or perhaps
some hymn handed down from the time
when the old Convenanters worshipped
God and defed man amongst the purple
heather. They never lured him home to
her though.
The years rolled on, and even this one
sting of conscience ceased its paining. In
those days there were no such beings as
sober sailors, nor captains Of temperance
principles Hard drinkers were most old
salts, and most young ones. Sandy drank
with the rest. He grew broad and stout.
His cheeks were bronzed, his light hair
changed its tint, his voice grew deep and
coarse. He was in no way good man,
but he was a good sailor. As the years
passed, he came to be an oficer-frst mate
of the Agamemnon. His pockets were full
enough for all his purposes. The sea was
han xph on
shore he led that sort of life that drives
the thought of mother from mems very
souls He had friends, at least he thought
so, men who knew when his pay jing led
in his pocket, women who did not blush
to receive the lavish gifts of the joVial
sailor. He was not niggardly, nay-once
he emptied his last remaining dollar into
beggar's hand. 1t happened to be a
prettyish beggar girl, and he had gone on
years cruise, shoeless, and during ship
wreck, or when the Agamemnon found a
sister vessel in distress, Sandy was bravest
of the brave but he had never been gen.
erous enough nor brave enough to go
back to the eastward seaport, where mis-
mother had left the candle burning for
him In the Window-never, never.
Five years were gone, and ten, and ff-
teen and twenty A man nearly forty
years of age stood in Sandy Cameron's >
| shoes-a man who led the widest life un-
der the moon ashore, a man to whom fiery
brandy was as water to child; a man
who remembered God only in his oaths !;
| when the Agamemnon came after a long
and stormy voyage just within sight OF the
coast-within sight of its light house, at
4, i q. l1
nothing else was visible. Battered with
storms already, bruised by the waves,
wounded by rocks, still the Agamemnon
fought her way homeward by the morrow
eve sound earth would be beneath the feet
of the wave weary mariners-for once at
least all longed for it, even wild Sandy
Cameron. He was glad. He watched
the towering lamps with JOY, and swore
that they were pleasant sights Before he
slept he stood awhile leaning over the taf-
frail smoking and thinking, if he ever
thought. 1t was an evil lingering for the
Agamemnon. A spark from the cigar
held In unsteady hands, regarded by eyes
no brighter for recent draughts of brandy,
makes its way somehow, wind-borne, or
demon-borne, into the places where the
cargo of the vessel had been stored away,
and at the dead of night they of the mid
watch saw stealing through the planks be-
meath them red and yellow tongues of
fame. The vessel was on fire /!
"Fire fire fire !" the word rang its way
to Heaven, shouted by every tongue on
board
The scene that followed beggars descrip-
ton. None who lived to remember could
ever forget it, There was no hope from
the first none, save in the boats. They
were filed at once Who could forget 1t
Oh, who can forget it The old man
pointing to the lights on shore and crying:
81 wanted to see the children once be-
fore l died.
The captain was deathly pale, showing
that strange bravery which sailors only pos
sess at such time.
Changing from dictatorial old hard
drinker to very hero clinging in roman
tic fondness to his ship and while he did
his best for every soul on board, forget
ting himself, and vowing to sink with her.
The young passenger and his bride
she c!inging to him the mother with her
babe bound to her breast-praying on her
knees amid the tumult. The orphan child
going home to its grand parents, wonder
stricken, and yet scarcely conscious of its
danger. The sailors changed like the
captain into heroes Who could forget all
this !? Amidst them all, gigantic in his
strength, sobered at last by the awful
scenes around him, toiled Sandy Cameron.
They remembered him we'll whose lives he
saved. The bronzed man with light hair,
and the grip of Hercules So all the boats
and rafts-some to live, some to die--were
all afoat. All gone into the darkness, and
struggling forms had vanished from the
waves, and alone together, the flames ap-
nrna chin o thern Ike dancing demons. stood