The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-10-29
THE OCEAN.
BY WALLACE R. srRuRLE.

Thou symbol of a drear immensity!
Thou thing that windest round the solid world
Like a huge animal, which, downward hurled
From the black clouds, lies welterlng and alone,
Lashing and writhing till its strength be gone!
Thy voice is like the thunder, and thy sleep
Is as giants slumber, loud and deep.
Thou speakest in the east and in the west
At once, and on thy heavily-laden breast
Fleets come and go, and things that have no life
Or motion, yet are moved and met in strife"
Proctor
The moment in which we caught
first glimpse of the far-distant waves of
old ocean, rolling in sublimity before
us, can never be forgotten. Some hair
breadth escape from the fury of pois-
onous serpent, or the jaws of the vora-
cious crocodile, might possibly be erased
from the memory by the obliterating
hand of time; but while the faintest
trace of past events remains uneffaced
upon the tablet of our memory, the mo-
ment just referred to will be vividly re-
membered by us. Since that juncture,
many a sorrow has visited'our bosom
many tedious day has rolled into eter-
nity-many and varied have been the
scenes that have passed before US; but
still a recollection of that event is as
clear to our mind as are the occurrences
of yesterday; and as we look back to it,
through the dim vista of by-gone days,
emotions of a pleasing nature are excited
in our bosom.
We had been cradled in one of the
pleasant villages that skirt the blue
hills of our native State; and when but
boy we had often sighed and wished
to see the ocean. The laundering cata-
ract, the deep, wild forest, the verdure-
clad plains, the long, sweeping valley,
the reverberating echoes of the mad
dened thunder as it leaped among the
mountain crags, the lightning-scathed
; rock, blackened and broken-all these
were things familiar to our Juvenile
mind; but we turned away from the
contemplation of scenery that would
have enchanted the eye of an artist, and
/, sighed in disquietude, because our re-
moteness from the ocean had denied us
the privilege of strolling upon its wave
lashed shore and listening to the music
of its eternal song.
Time rolled on, and the wish so long
and anxiously desired was at last real
lied. For the moment it seemed that
our every wish was gratified. All that
we had read in the poets and other fine
descriptive writers about the wide ex-
t panse of waters at once rushed upon our
mind, and especially that celebrated
apostrophe of well-known poet to the
ocean, in which he says,
''Ron on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, ROLL.
d Yes, that was the idea that first oc-
Cured to our mind-"roll on, roll on y
and the thought was carried out in the
S language of a justly-praised American
poet:
"And there it rolls! Age after age has swept
Down, down the eternal cataract of time;
Men after men on earth's cold bosom slept,
Still there it rolls, ,unfading and sublime"
Since that time we have frequently
rambled upon the shell-paved strand, al
y the close of day, when sunset streameC
along the west, and felt that
q ''There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is society where none intrudes-
By the deep sea-and music in its roar"
g At such an hour, while the sun ha:
a yet fingered upon the golden verge o
O the horizon, painting parting smile
e upon the white clouds of canvas tina
o moved like spectres along the bosom o
If the deep, we have stood and gazed ou
upon the rolling ocean with rapture
that is indescribable. From the poin
of vision the winding shore stretched
away to the right and left, as far as tn
Z aching eye could follow its sinuou
i course; while the everlasting surf, lik
n successive wreaths of snow, rolled uPol
. the sandy beach, and foamed ant
e sparkled in the last rays of the settin;
!. sun.
l. But the sun has sometimes gone dowl
= and left us still contemplating the rest
If less waters; the winds have retired t.
:. their caves, the curlew has ceased t.
% scream along the blast, and a stillnes
e e has come over "the deep, deep sea-
a Night has approached as softly and 81
e lently as the snowflake falls upon tn
G bosom of the rolling stream. The white
p winged bark that seemed to linger 70
!. awhile upon the farthest verge of vision
i has been gradually concealed from
y view, as the sky and ocean seem t.
y y mingle and blend beautifully together
,, like the lights and shades in well-ex
:, ecuted painting. "The sea, the Opel
y sea-" has been spread out before us
when naught has been heard upon tn
evening breeze save the solemn roar @
e the surf, or the startling shrek of tn
is sea-bird, as it tapped its dripping pin
:: ions in lonely solitude over the brin.
= deep.
v Nothing is more impressive than t
1t stand alone at nightfall upon the silen
'r shore, and commune with the ocean
IIe buried-to stand and think of the mill
p ions upon millions of our race who hav
J. been plunged beneath the wave, an
> found their last resting-place in tn
e caverns.of the deep-to call to mind tn
:, upnuuoharad tbOuSandS vho have oOn