Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-05-08
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
BY LEMON L. CHL.

By LEMON L. UHL.
NEAR MADRAS, March 9TH, 1873.
We leave Dover lighthouse like s
star in the distance; Sabbath sees u'
rocking on the English channel; thu
waves jump about in glee; the engine
alarms u by stopping again; and th'
sky shuts us in between England ant
France, till the eve shuts us in from the
sky. Tuesday has nearly brought II:
ont of the channel, when, all of sud.
den, at noon the steamer turns about
and the captain heads for Falmouth fol
repairs. In eight hours, / stand for.
ward and see the huge cable chains un-
roll and hear the anchor splash the wa
ter, when soon all is silent the anchor is
GO feet under us and over 800 feet ol
chain lies in falmouth Bay as swinging
room for the 0rchis. Here shines a
lighthouse, there circles the land, yon-
der lies q town, behind us is the sea.
But must we wait here? And if so,
how long? We are told three days.
Three days pass, and We are told few
days more will see us of, until week
passes by. Steamers and ships come
and 90. The clatter of our engineers
hammers are heard upon our anchored
boat, and one day waits for another.
On hillside field, near, a plowman
turns his burrows and we get acquaint-
ed with him, and learn of the early,
mild season. Against the foot of the
land-ridges, the waves play and dash
up in white leaps, showing the tireless
energy of the sea. Upon a ridge, a
tower stands, revolving its light every
minnie, by night, and we think it will
be revolving in our memories. Above
the light house are thicket of fir trees
with their welcome green. This Corn
wall land and cornish town and coast
seem a welcome retreat yet prison to
US, when, on Jan. 23rd the "Orchis"
bears away from this last port of Eng
land. We look forward but it is with
some fears. While in Falmouth We OBJ
tanned New York Tribune of Jan. lst,
and had wayside word from the Uni
ted States, and the snow, sleet, rain and
floods. There too we saw the only
snow fakes, while in England. The
English papers brought us news each
day of storms at sea, of some wreck,
and of the downward tendency of the
barometer. Our ships barometers were
going down frightfully, and until the
atmospheric forces changed, the lowest
recorded column on land, was % AZ
inches. As We left port, the storm
drnm was still hois ted in warning. We
feel there may be danger, yet are glad
to go onwards. Passing Lizard point,
we meet the lashings of the sea. A
ship that started ont returns. The
English channel, with its ports, its rocks
and winds, has buried more boats and
human bodies, perhaps, than the wide
oceans. The captain points out various
places where disaster and drowned men
have masked the spot. l stand on the
stern and watch the mighty sea. 1t is
twenty and more feet from where the
stern sinks in o hollow to the top of the
wave on which it rises. An aronnd
are 1heaYing ridges Of water, rolling,
roaring, and surging about. 1t is ma
jestic, bnt when think of what might
happen, and of the little pity and GER
tain destruction that are in this gorg-
ing sea, my heart qnails. All night the
wild waters rage. All Thursday they
leap around, as though they would
come upon us. We enter Biscay Bay,
and, the memorable Thursday night.
After supper, a heavy wave strikes the
steamer, tumbles over the deck, convul-
sing the ship with dead, heavy sound
and all faces bear inquiring looks. The
ship is quiet, deathly so, and imagine
the waters are settling over us to sink
us into the depths. A feeling comes
when 1 hear the propeller 60 again, and
feel motion of the ship. Our cabin is
on deck. There is another wave, it
strikes the ship, falls crushingly upon
the cabin roof, and, tearing through
the sky lights, pours into our room. All
night the waves roll upon the deck, all
night the water is in our room. A Goor
is broken open, is fixed, and is washed
down again. At midnight there are
whispers of man killed. Our eyes
are nearly sleepless, and the daylight
shows sea calmed down from its fury,
and reveals a body cold in death and
wedged in by mast. The day is sweet
to us. Then comes the burial at sea,
when, with impressions more solemn
than ever felt, We bury the body in its
deep and unmarked grave.
There is more welcome in the sight
Of the next land because of our storms.
Cape Finisterre comes in sight and the
Spanish coast lies alongside in broken
capes and headlands, with mountain
peaks far inland. At latitude AZ degrees,
We think of Ohio and then pass south
of our native State. We lay by over
coats and wrappings to enter genial
elimes. We catch a glance of the coast
ut Lisbon. and then again at Cape st.
Vincent, and soon low, dark distant
mound is our first sight of Africa. 1t is
cape Spartel with its lighthouse. With
a glass, the trees on cape Trafalgar are
seen, Gibralter's rock is passed at night
and we are upon the Mediterranean sea.
As we sail in through the straits we are
upon the narrow track over which most
of Europe and Africa goes, and meet
many vessels. 1t is the 10Th of January
and we are inside Gibralter. It is eve
ming, the new moon has set, we have
said goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean,
and watch the waters of the new sea.
A white stream stretching back from us
attracts our eyes, and we exclaim 'beau-'
tiful' A track of light is in onr path,
as though from the seas
bottom brightness shone mp through the
depths and fell upon the surface in a
pale light. The track is over ten feet
wide, and there are many glittering
sparkles in it, and large circles of light
move about in tremulous motion, till
the whole seems like "milky way" in
the sea with its ever bursting meteors