Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-06-17
A BALLAD OF BRAVE WOMEN

OF Slrdased-Jdnudry q, 1883.
With hiss and thunder and inner boom
While through the darkness the great waves loom
And charge the rocks with the shock OF doom
A second sea is the hurricanes blast;
It's viewless pillows are loud and vast,
By their strength great trees are uptorn and down
cast.
Tonight falls many goodly tree,
As many ship, through the raging sea
Shall go with the strange sea-things to be.
At times through the hurry of clouds, the moon
Looks out aghast; but her face right soon
Is hidden again, and she seems to swoon.
Oh, the wind waves, and oh, the sea waves,
The CULTS of wind, and the sea-gulfs for graves;
Fast through the air how she flies and rayesl
Raves with a magical, mad delight,
The viewless spirit of storm and night,
Heart of the wind, and soul OF his might.
Hark to the voice which shouts from the sea
The voice of dreadful reyelryl
The unseen hunters are out, and flee
Over the crests Of the roaring deep,
Or they climb the ways that are.w1ld and steep,
Or right through the heart of their light they leap.
Roar of the wind and roar of the waves,
And song and clamor of sea filed caves,
What ship tonight such a tempest brayes2
Yet see, ah see, how a snake of light
Goes kissing and writhing up all the night
While the cry, Going dolon" through the winds
Through the roar of the winds and the waves
Is sent This way by the shrieking weather,
But to help on such night were vain endeayer.
See glare of torches; and married and single,
Men and women cOnfusedly mingle-
You can hear the rush of their feet down the
single.
oh, salt and keen is the spray in their faces;
From the strength OF the wind they reel in their
PAGES,
Catch hands 10 steady them there in their places.
How would boat in such seas behave?
But the life-boati Quick The life-bOat will save
She is manned, with her crew OF strong fellows
and brave.
Sect They ride on the nights, in the deep valleys
Until, With cry which the winds out.trip,
Their boat is hurled on the sinking ship.
at is over" they cried. "we have done all men
Yet there's one chance leftg' and themselves they
threw
Right into the wrath of the sea and the windl
1t RACES all round them, before behind;
Their ears are deafened; their eyes are blind.
Then in the middlemost hell OF the night;
Yea, in the innermost heart of the fight
They strain and struggle with all their might
With never a pause, while Gods mercy they cry
Their teeth are set and their muscles are iron;
Each man has the heart and the thews of lion.
Wave spurns them to wave. They may do It'll
For shorewari the great tide towering goes.
And shoreward the great wind laundering blows.
But, mol See that wave, like a Fate bearing oni
1t breaks them and passes TWO swimmers alone
Are seen in the wave, and their strength is nigh
gone.
Quoth three soldiers on shore, They must give
Neither swimmer nor boat with such surges could
cope,
Nor could one stand steady to cast a rope.
'.For he who would cast 1t must stand hip-high
In the trough of the sea, and be thrown thereby
On his face, never more to behold the sky.
But woman slept out from those gathered there,
pray for strength, God will hear my prayer"
But the men they jeered, and they cried, go tol
Can a woman do what we dare not do?"
Spake another WON AM, tool We twain
win do our best, strive with might and main,
And if what we do shall be done In vain,
and the great sea have us to hold and hide,
Than to live as these Others. Haste! Haste?" she
cried.
They seized rope and with no word more,
Fearless of death, down the steep of the shore
They dashed. right into the light and the roar
OF the giant waves, which sprang on them there,
As a beast of prey might spring from his lair,
While the roar OF his triumph made deaf the air.
Oh, loud is the death they hurry to meet
The stones slip shrieking from under their feet
They stagger but fall not Beat, mad pillows,
beatl
They raise their arms, with their souls strength
They pause-swin it reach?"-Then they shout
and fling,
And straight as a stone driven forth by sling
Driven far afeld by q master hand
The rope whizzss out from the seething strand:
A shout-'It is caught For land, now for landP'
A crash like thunderl They drop to their knees,
But they keep hold in the under seas
They rise. They pull. Nor falter, nor cease.
The strength of ten men have these women
And they shout with the rapturous sense of their
shout. as men shout, when they reyel in fight.
They reel, but they fall not. The rope winds in,
Hark bark. what shout answers their?shout, at
THAT win win dol We touch bottOmI The dangeris
pastp
Then the women turn from the raging water
With the two they have snatched from its lust for
But their feet flag. now. and their breath comes
shorter.
Hs,dly thew hear in their sea-dimmed ears
Tba sound of sobs or the sound OF cheers
Tbeir ewes are drowned, but with spray, not tears
xvban deeds of valor Coast vaants over Coast
a. n which proved bravest, and which did most
11o Swansea women shall be my toast.
pHHITP BoURKE MARsToS, IN YotltAs CompGrion.