The Dawson journal., 1884-09-11
W0MAN'S FAITH.

unfathomable in this thing called
love. 1t tyranizes over body and
soul as no other feeling can. It
creates happiness from the great
est sorrow, light from the deepest
darkness. It builds such castles
as money cannot buy, and it binds
stronger than any chains forged by
human hands.
Through her tears as they parted
shone such a light Of love that he
almost dared call her wife. She
knew that she was loved in return,
and that knowledge created faith
in her heart which was to endure
even to the gates of Heaven and
beyond.
"In year!" he whispered as he
left her.
AAhNA SAAO bAO
81 will wait a year-a lifetimer
When a year had passed and no
word came from him they tried to
shake her faith by creating doubts
Men had no constancy, they sneer-
ed; men would wiring a woman's
heart and have no pity. Tears
came to her brown eyes but again
she answered:
"He will come back to mel"
When the one year had become
five the old sailors in the taverns
and lofts shook their heads and
said to each other that the
ship had surely been lost and that
the young captain would never be
heard of more. Wives felt a pity
for the heart longing and waiting
through such uncertainty, and
they whispered that it would
be no sin to love again.
81 shall see him again-he will
surely return!'' was the answer of
Faith, with her sorrowful face and
aching heart.
The five years became ten. The
brown hair was streaked with gray,
and the girls fair face had become
the face Of woman who carries a
sobbing, wailing misery in her
heart. Men showed their cruelty
by seeking to awaken a new
love; women exhibited
their bitterness of heart
towards their own sex by ridicul-
ing her faith. But the light of
never-dying heroism burned in her
eyes as she answered them:
"He gave me his promise-I
am watching for his ship"
And the ten years became twen-
ty. Men and women had gone to
their last rest until scarcely one
was left who remembered when
the lost ship sailed or who was
her captain. But there were chill
dren who had heard the story, and
as they smoothed down the gray
hairs with their soft hands, they
whispered:
'It is so sad! And he was lost
at sea?"
"Lost!" she answered. "Aye!
even though the whole world told
me so, 1 would wait and watch for
him"
And the twenty years became
thirty. One night when the storm
vexed sea lashed the shore in fury
and men uttered brief prayers to
God as they turned their faces up
on the ships making a brave fight
for life, Faith lay dying.
The end had come. A human
heart, troubled and bruised and
Scared by waiting in vaiD-by
hoping, to be ever disappointed
was about to be stilled. For a mo-
ment the storm lulled, just as a
man draws long breath before
dashing into some great peril.
As it screamed and roared again
in it's vengence, Faith lifted her
thin hand and whispered:
"He is coming back to me! !
shall see him again and hear his
voice once mOreP"
The nurse moved nearer and
whispered kind words, but Faith
waved her aside and cried out:
"Do not come between us! [
hear his footsteps-he is herel /
loved him, and my reward has
come at last! Let me clasp his
hand-let me look into his eyes"
And again the storm lulled, un-
til the gale died into sobs and
whispers, and the roar of the
surf sounded miles
away. Before the fury
gathered itself for a fresh attack,