New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-03-12
A Rallad Of Marblehead.
By 4, NORMAN GCNNIsON.

Il.
Cha 6sberr an stood all day by the beach
stood where the bre akers thundereo ~,
and beard the sound Of the Sea bi'ds sciee
And dash Of waves on the rocks VI ASnN
..fhe storm il fierce" said the fisher %
ssAnd the wind 10 wild /" tho fisher AZ
the rocks are sha. and the .hore i: bold 3D.
Where the pint makes out iro" '"' ''e"s"1'
s,d ev'Iy ship that 10 now 1t sea.
Bound in to Lynn or 10 Marblehead,
Must keep the light three points on the lee,
Or be wrecked" So the tshec SAD.
The storm was fierce and the wind was wild,
And the DARING pilot, swart ar d stout;
sun thought Of home and wife and child
Thought of them both, as the wind made mnal
The wind made moan to the breakers shooA
For the world is hard to the left alone.
Harder than any New England rock.
So the fisher waited by the shore, ~,
Hearing the waves and the bteakefs a,n'
And lust at dusk, mid the tempest io~A'
The good ship E.na came sailing 49,
xtavssils set and her courses fur.ed,
Goose winged topsail upon neg Maia'
Two and fro was the GOOD snip hutAs2
ever the oceans Watefy pau
Plain no longer, for mountain waves
Broke the sea into burrows vast;
rfa white-caps rose over countess graves
As the tempest Numbered past.
In spske Hulda, the fishers wife,
Brown old dame of the nshing coast:
where's the pilot! Every LIFE
Is saved if he Keeps his post.
There is 10 pilot at sea tonight
Said Abner jackson, the skipper son,
While over the waters came the light
And booming crash OF a signal gun.
Heavens! They are fetching past. the land
Past the p'int-they will strik the rock
Said Jothar1 Davis. Close at hand
Came q crash and lending shock.
Nan tbs lifeboatr' No maa stirred;
over the din of wind and wave,
Over the tempest's strife was heard
-Sayem but no human hand could save.
Clinging to the wave-washed deck,
Men and women in wild despair
Sent their pleading from of the wreck.
Shuddering on the startled Ar.
Then spoke Huldah, the fishers wife:
Does not a man to tave them dare.
Will We stand for q worthless life.
While they cry in their wild despair
3 Shame on ye mer, A womau's hand
Shall do the deed We dare not Try!
Who'll go with me from OF the lands'
will and and l! and II"
Down BY the boat, with oars N hand
Five brave women! Drawer sight
Never before was seen on Ia0o
Up spoke grufiy old Fisher Ben,
Scared old Triton OF the sea;
& Man that boat! Such sigAt, my men,
Never on earth was seen by me.
" All We can do at worst is die;
Better de-" the old Triton said,
"a Than live - towards meath the eye
OF the women Of Marblehead"
Abuer jackson then stepped out
lothian Davis and Skipper Ben,
Biiah Eorcr0ss and Ireson, stout
That, they felt. was the place for men.
Out past the point where mountain high
Crested pillows in foam were tOsr,
Sometimes plain on the stormy sky,
Sometimes hidden and almost lost.
Round the point, on the stormy wave.
They reach the rock and gain the wreck;
Every life they seek to cave
Safe ia taken from oil the deck.
And now strain hard, the goal is near,
Each hsndlpressee bending oar:
Shout, y fishermen! cheer on cheer
Shout. for they have reached the shore.
That was many year agone-
Many fisherman il dead
Who saw the ship come sailing on
The cruel r0cks of Marblehead.
Many a mAu who saw her sail,
Foam on her PROV, aud rocks alice,
With no breath Of An earthly gale,
Sails the waves of shoreless sea-
The fisher old, with aching joint,
Tells how the ship came sailing in,
Wrecked on rocks beyond the point,
Left her bones by the coast of Lynn.
This 10 true; for, one stormy day,
While watched a passing sail,
The clouds hung over dim and gray,
A fisher told to me- the tale.
Close to the point the rocks still lie,
And any fisher were better dead
Than q coward beneath the eve
OF the women Of Naroleheai.