New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-10
A BALLAD OF BRAVE WOMEN.
OFF swANsEA-JANUARY ~. 1883.
From The Touth's Companion.

With hiss and thunder and inner BOOM
While through the darkness tho great waves loom
And charge the rocks with the shock OF DOOM
A second sea is the hurricanes blast:
Its viewless pillows arc loud and vast
By their strength great trees are uptorn and down.
cast.
Tonight falls many goodly tree,
As many q ship, through the raging sea
Shall 60 with the strange sea-thlngs to be-
At thpes through the hurry OF couds the moon
Looks out aghast: bat her face night soon
Is hidden again. and she seems to swoon.
Oh the wind waves, and oh, the waves,
I he CULTS OF wind, and the sea-gulfs for graves,
Fast through the air how She dies and ravesi
Raves with magical mad delight
The viewless spirit OF storm and night,
Heart OF the wind. and soul OF bis might
Hark to the voice which shouts from the sea-
The voice of dreadful reveiryl
The unseen hunters are out, aud nee
Over the crests OF the roaring Deep,
Or ght through the heart of their light they leap.
Rear of the wind and roar of the waves,
And song aud clamOr Of sea-filled caves,
What ship tonight such a tempest bravesf
Yet zee. alb. see. how q snake of light
Goes kissing and writhng up all the night,
While the cry, Going doWHl" through the winds
mad might
Through the roar OF the winds and the waves
IL sent this way by the shrieking weather.
put 10 help on such night were a vain eDdeavor.
See o.vlaFe of torches and married and single.
Men ana women cohfusedly mlngle-
You can hear the rush of their feet down the
shiDgle.
oh, salt and keen is the spray in their faces;
From the strength of the wind they reel In their
Catch hands TO steady them there in their places.
How would n boat in such seas behaved
But the lfe-boat Quick 4 he life-boat will save:
She is manned with her Of strong fellows, and
brave.
Sect They ride on the heights, in the deep valleys
dip.
Their boat is hurled ON the sinking snip.
Its side is gCred for the sea to have way through
Yet there's one chance leftl' and themselves they
threw
Right into the wrath of the sea and the windl
IL RACES all round them, before, behind.
Their cars are dcafcned; their eyes are pnd.
Then in the middlemost hell of the night
Yea in the innermost heart OF the hight,
They strain and struggle with all their might
with never a pause. while Gods mercy they cry on.
Their teeth are set and their muscles are IRON
Hach man has the heart aud the tbews Of q lion.
Wave spurns them to wave. They may do it
For shoreward the great tide towering goes,
And shoreward the great wind laundering blows
But mol Sec that wave. like Fate bearing onl
IL breaks them and passes Two swimmers alone
Are seen in the wave, aud their strength Is nlgh
gone.
ouoth three soldiers on shore. "They must give mp
Neither swimmer nor boat with such surges could
COPE
Nor could one stand steady to cast 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 pehoid tue SKY
But woman slept out from those gathered there.
And size said my life for their lives will dare,
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 crieu Uo Vol
Can woman do what we dare not dol"
Spake another woman-"I, tool We twain
Will do our best, strive with might aud main,
And if what we do shall be done In vain,
.'And the great sea have us to hold and hide,
IL were surely better thus to have died 49,
Than to live as these others. Hastel 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
or the giant waves, which sprang on them there,
AS beast OF prey might spring from ms 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 sagger. but fall not Beat, mad biilows' beau
They raise their arms, with their souls strength
They pause-"win 1T reach p-Then they shout
And straight as stone driven forth by sling
Driven far afeld by a master hand
The rope whizzes out from the seething strand:
A sh0ut-"It is caught For land, now, for landW
A crash like thuuder They drop to their knees.
But they keep their hold IN the under seas.
They rise. They pufl Nor falter, nor cease.
The strength OF ten men have these women tonight,
And they shout with the rapturous sense OF Their
Shout. as men shout. when they rsvel in fight
They reel but they fall not. The rope wlndsn, fast:
Hark harkI what shout answers their shout, at
last
THAT viii dol We touch bottOmi Tho danger is
pastp
Then the women turn from tho raging water
With the two they have snatcned from its iust for
But their feet ias. now, and their breath comes
shorter.
Hardly they hear In their sea-dmmed ears
The sound Of sobs, or the sound Of cheers
Their eyes are drowned. but with spray, not tears.