The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-10-02
THE CABIN ON THE sEAsHORE.
BY w. W..

BY w. w.
rDedlcated to The ~. s. Life-Surtng Corps.'l
-ssHol lads the winds moan strangely deep to-
night,
The waves in thunder roar,
J,eapiue and shifting in their savage might,
Where the cliff meets the shore;
y0ur stronghold built in sheltered cleft of rock,
Half cabin and half cave,
Shakes at the heavy blows and ceaseless shock
OF gust and angry wave.
,eeAnd out upon the reef the treacherous reef
Scarce noted when the breeze
so gently from tue sea but stirs leaf
Now break the 'whelm ng seas;
And oft there seems wall upon the blast,
AS 'tWere a cry OF PAIN,
OF some spent swimmer ere he sinks at last
Beneath the stormy main.
4Our lowly roof, how dashed by the fierce rain
That beats the trembling door,
And patters on the single fearful pane
That looks on sea and shore;
o. God have pity for those on the sea,
Only Thy hand can save
From the wild storm which bowls remorselessly,
To make the deep grave.
~Hark lads, is that gun which seems to sound
Seaward-or has some huge rock lett the cliff,
To strike the beach below with mutfied bound?
Up! lads, it seems far out upon the reef
There goes signal-light twas not the glare
OF the red lightning, for alas tits blue;
God pity them and us, for sheer despair
Can aid alone to save that drowning crew.
Quick! mother, put candle at the pane,
To let the poor souls know that help is nigh;
The lantern! ropesl these may be all in vain,
But. with Gods help, we cannot see them die:
And now Join hands thus each lad, true and
staunch,
May breast the wind and spray until we reach
The little where we our boat may launch
Beyond the waves when there 1855 lasn the
beach,
a md 10Th tha dark cliffs greet
And tall ship now flashes on the sight,
Stranded upon the Lizards back, where beat
The murderous waves with all their awful
might,
And heard between the gusts is WOmans cry,
Through all the roar of battling waters borne,
AS the light craft scarce seen meath blackene sky
Starts to the rescue on that hope forlorn.
The day is breaking as they launch their boat,
And the huge waves less madly toss ana roar,
AS the small bark. once fairly set a1oat
Struggles beyond the breakers near the shore.
Now. lads, once more, you see there is a lull-
Pull for your lives to gain the good ships lee
Give way, my lads! another stronger pull,
Well reach where breaks less ferCely the reused
sea.
Why, it's the Madras there is Captain Berne;
His gray head, beaten by the wind and spray;
He signals to us now to come astern
While the poor crew but stretch their hands and
pray.
Hard on your starboard oars! these cross seas
come,
Boiling in wrath as if to swamp us now:
Hard ON your oars! keep head to sea, or doom
Awaits us, spite of all that strength may do.
%Avast! hold hard there comes buoy and rope
lifeline from the breaking ship, and now
Here comes woman-God be praised! Well hope
TO save them all. Pray lift her gently-sot
Aud now child; poor thing! the voyage of life
Has tost him rudely whilst the wild winds raved;
The fair hair drenched, the small hands clenched
in strife
,
The tall ship lurches to her fate, but still
Hold bravey lads! the lines the bridge from
fate
And here they come seven souls enough to fill
Our cockle-shell to the gunwales at this rate:
Wear round before that lurch to port again:
Her day is done. And now pull for the shore,
OFF hats and bail. lest all our risk prove vain
Another sea like that, our voyage is DER"
With head to shore the overladen craft
Stagger past caverns in the frothing sea-
That yawn and threaten death, and close abaft
Crowd the hoarse pillows cheated of their prey:
Shuddenngly that crew glance back where one vast
surge
Lifts their sea home to crush it in tn embrace
Of waiting rocks whilst the storm means a dirpe
Ger the lost ship, which sinks, to leave no trace
Save floating spars and planks. the sad debris
Of the swift thing which erst by life seemed
stirred,
Whichyesterday was monarch of the sea-
Swimming the pillows like some ocean bird:
Yet, as he might at last, with broken wing
Perish in tempests on some fatal shore.
SO, crushed and broken, do the waters fling
That proud bark on the rocks, to sail no more
jSofhy!-they near the Observation-Disclosures now
They're holding hard to mount the steep waves
crest,
TO onward plunge, to rise again and bow
Before The believing surges maddened quest:
A moment more, the keel CRATES on the strand
THEY'RE saved! they've escaped from where the
breakers rolled;
They bow themselves upon that barren sand
And grasp it's grains they were shining gold
CHICAGO, Ill.