The Portland daily press., 1878-12-25
Jordan River,
On the Nova Scoiiau Shore.

Now tell me, white haired fisherman,
What means this house so dree;
Which standeth on the seaward SLOPE
With its face towards the sea?
Half-fnished, without step or door,
1t must, for twenty years or more,
Have stood, it Eeemeth me.
Along its caves the long, rank weeds
Stir in the breeze like wings;
And all atwist about 1t run
many noisome things;
Tween no man 'eer lived therein;
Te love, or hate, or pray or sin;
Or to Its memory clings.
81 see youTare stranger here,
Or, surely you would know,
That Simon Golding reared this cot
Amany years ago;
But 'ere twas done, he went one day
To set his nets, across the bsy,
While clouds hung black and low.
"The breakers smacked their hungry lips
Upon his lee, Iwot;
Where, like cleaning susk, the reef
Above the srges shot;
But never a sail world he take in.
Though meath his keel the sea might spin,
And boil as in 81 pot.
"But fiercer came the squalls, and one
More fercethan all before;
Ere he could loose bis mainsheet, gave
His boat a blow full sore;
And, then another, in its wake
Close following, her sudden strake
And rolled her wholly o'er,
Sand he was drowned'' But, blue eyed man.
Il said, abrupt of specify
Is that the wreck Of his good boat
see on yonder beach?
Where, shoot the crags, so sharp and black,
And. midst the heaving drift and wrack,
Ihe hungry seabirds screech?
AYE! aye! hat sunburnt fisher said,
Forsooth tits asyou say;
Yon are the ribs sf his good boat,
Sound oak and tough were they;
Or they would not, espite the fare
OF barnaeles and weeds they bear,
Have lasted till today"
With that bent, haltng man Jared,
Nor farther might enquire;
While like a lost soul sank the sun
Into gulf of fire;
And; Ger the wild wastesof the sea,
The far off fog trailsd noi,elessly
Its ghostly garments nighG.
And, one by one. the bickehng guls
Their wtless clamor ceased;
And, one by one, the soundsdied out
Of restless bird and beast;
And, one by one, the blessed stars
Peered softly through their misty bars,
And nights calm bliss increased.
Stop here, thou honest fisherman;
Thy cottage door beside;
Dost mark that weird, wild woman there,
Who scans the ocean wide?
Breakdown as is the snowy spray
From wrinkled lodges of the hav
Are ner White locks, cried.
marked her there an hour ago,
thought twas but tree;
A stunted pine, which, by the winds,
Shorn Of its top might be,
She would not thus have stood, Tween,
Unless her wits had drifted clean
Into anility.
"Why, thai is Hannah Griggs, you know"
That sphinx. like fisher said;
Sand Goldng's sweetheart, whom he was
At Christmas tide to wed,
Had he but lived; but since the day
When he vas drowned, the neighbors say,
She hath been light of head.
'For, VIXEN the days fair life doth ebb,
To yon bold bluff she hies;
And all the watery wilderness
Doth scan with eager eyes,
Until the light house lamps be lit,
When, to her hovel, doth she fit
With lands locked sorrow-wise."
1 bad, the guileless man adieu,
Natbaless. with fances coy
1 loiered by the quavering waves
A little tide to toy;
Willie whippoorwills forlornly TITLED,
A if from tears might be distilled
The subtitle balm OF joy.
And, Love! said, o! blessed Love
Thou art golden key;
Which, through the rustiest wards of life
Mayst wind resstlessy;
And, opening with exquisite art,
The strongest Golfers of the heart,
Make all their treasure free.
And, as mused, there trembling crept
Across the gloom Of night,
Even to my feet, narrow path
Wrought all of flaming light;
golden way across the sea
To heavens far shore it seemed to be
In my bewildered sight.
For, now, the light house lamps were lit,
And, in the neighboring byre,
Iheard the simple fisherfolk
Together sweetly quire;
So, thither was L fain to fare,
And join in homely song and prayer
With matron, child and sire.
LAUNcELoT.
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