The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-07-14
4 BALLAD OF BRAVE WOMEN

NAA~ ~" -~NN
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.
o. 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 raves
Raves with magical, mad delight
The viewless spirit of storm and night.
Heart of the wind, and soul of his might.
Hank to the voices which shouts from the sea.
The voice of dreadful revelryl
The unseen hunters are out, and flee
Over the crests of the roaring deep,
Orthey climb the ways that are wild and steep,
Or right through the heart of their light they
leap.
Roar of the wind and roar of the waves,
And song and camOr of Sea-tlled caves.
What ship tonight such a tempest bravesp
Yet see, ah, see, how snake of light
Goes kissing and writhing upg All the night,
While the cry, Going dolOn!' through the
winds mad might
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 endeavor.
See glare of torches; and married and single,
Men and women confusedly mingle-
You can hear the rush of their feet down the
ohlhSlc.
o, salt and keen is the spray in their faces;
From the strength of the wind they reel in
their paceS
Catch hands to steady them there in their
places.
How would boat in such seas behave?
But the life-boat! Quick! The life-boat will
save.
She is manned, with her crew of strong fellows,
and brave.
See! They ride on the heights, in the deep
Until, with cry CRY; which the winds outstrip,
Their boat is hurled on the sinking ship.
Its side is gored, for the sea to have way
through
at is Overt" they cried. 1--WE have done all
Yet there's one chance left!" and themselves
they threw
Right into the wrath of the sea and the wind !
lit RACES all around them, before and 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 pause, while Gods mercy they
Their teeth are set, and their muscles are iron
Each man has the heart and the thewS of a lion.
Wave spurns them to wave. They may do it A..
Who knows?
For shoreward the great tide towering goes.
And shoreward the great wind laundering
blows.
But, no! See that wave, like a Fate bearing on!
1t breaks them and passes. Two swimmers
alone
Are seen in the wave, and their strength is
nigh gone.
Quote three soldiers on shore; "They must
give up hope.
Neither swimmer nor boat with such surses
Nor could one stand steady to cast a rope.
"For he who would cast it must stand hip-high
In the trough of the sea and be thrown thereby
On his face, never more to behold the sky"
But a woman slept out from those gathered
And she said "My life for their lives will 1
dare.
4 pray for strength, God will hear my prayer"
And the light of her soul her eyes shone
through
But the men they jeered, and they cried go to!
Can woman do what we dare not do?''
Spake another woman-'I, too! We twain
Will do our best, strive with might and MAN.
And if what we do shall be done in vain,
And the great sea have us to hold and hide
At were surely better thus to have died
Than to live as these others. Haste! Haste!"
she cried.
They seized a 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 pray might spring from his lair,
While the roar of his triumph made deaf the
air.
o, loud is the Death they hurry to meet
The stones Slip ShriekinU from under thair
feet
They stagger, but fall not. Beat, mad pillows
beat!
They raise their arms, with their souls strength
quivering-
They pause-"Will itreach?'-Then they shout
and fling.
And straight as stone driven forth by sling
Driven far afield by master hand
The rope whizzes out from the seething strand;
a shout" 1t is caught! For land, now, for
land!"
A crash like thunder They drop to their knees
But they keep their hold in the under seas.
They rise. They pull. Nor falter, nor cease.
The strength of ten men have these women to-
night.
And they shout with the rapturous sense of
their might
Shout, as men shout when thew revel in fpbt
They reel, but they fall not The rope winds
in fast;
Hark, bark! what shout answers their shout.
at last
'That will do! We touch bottom! The danger
is past!'
Then the women turn from the raging water
with the two they have snatched from its lust
for slaughter,
But their feet flag now, and their breath comes
shorter.
Hardly they hear in their sea-dimmed ears
The sound C1h tbo 4 80 81.
Their eyes are drowned, but with spray, not
tears
When deeds of valor Coast vaunts over Coast
AS TO which proved bravest, and which did
most,
Two Swansea women shall be my toast
Philip Bourhe Mdrston, in Youths Companion.
IN CAMP FANCY.
You cannot imagine the kind of q
place it was. You would have to see
Camp Fancy to understand just how it
looked in all its dreariness and desola-
ton. You would have to Chamber up
the full length of its one narrow, rocky
street, before you could understand Just
how crooked and rocky and steep that
street was. You would have to see for
yourself the shabby, rough old log and
slab huts that composed the camp, be-