, 1890-01-30
THE CArTAIN's WELL

] u pUDllt CtIt UtlllOn ~ tHe NeNuuTN pOTl
library. TO the charm and felicity oI
her verse, as far as II goes, nothing
could be added, but in tue following
ballad have ende0vored to give fuller
detail of the touching incident upon
which 1t Is founded,
| From pain and peril by land and main
| The shipwrecked sailor came back again
Back to his home, where wife and child
Who had mourned him lost, with Joy
were wild,
Where he sat once more with his kith
And welcomed his neighbors thronging
In,
hut when morning came he called for
his spade, ~
"I must pay Iny debt to the Lord" he
said.
"Why dig you here" asked the
sis there gold or silver the road so
nlgh2'
mo, friend, he answered; "but under
this sod
Is the blessed water, the wine Of God"
Water tie Fowwow is at your back,
And right before you tho Merrimack,
"And look you up, or look you down,
There's wcll-sweep ut every door in
town."
True, he said, I'VE have wells of our
own;
But this dig for the Lord alone"
Said tho other; "Ihis soil Is dry, you
know,
doubt il a spring can be found below;
"You had better consult before you dig,
Some water-witch with hazel tNig."
"No, wet or dry, will dig it here,
shallow or deep, If 1T takes year.
In the Arab desert, where shade is
The waterlcss land of sand and sun,
Under the pitiless, brazen sky
My burning throat as the sand was dry
"My ernzcd brain listened in fever
For rlash Of buckets and ripple Of
streams;
"And opening my eyes to the binding
ElAANt
And my l.ps to the breath of the blister
ing iir,
Tortured alike by the heavens and
earth,
| cursed, ike Job, the day of my birth.
''rhon something tender and SAD and
As mothers voice to her wandering
,mid,
"Rebukcl my frenzy, and, bowing my
head,
prayed as | never before had prayed;
"Pity me, God for | die Of thirst;
Take mo out OF this land accnr-ed;
"And IL ever reach my home again.
When Garth has springs, aud the sky
has rain,
al will dig y well for the passcr.by,
Andnonc will suffer with thirst as |.
"l saw, as raSscd my home once more,
The house, the barn, the elms by the
door,
'The Grnss-Iined road, that riverward
wuIud,
The tai ate stones of the buryinc
ground,
"rhe bclrry aud stccrlc on meeting.
house hill
The brook, with its dam and gray rrist
mill.
And knew in that vision beyond the
sca,
The very place wnerc my well must be.
God heard my rrnyrr in that evil day
Ill a. lei Ilt.r httt ftNyut,l
"From false mirage VI dricd.up we'll.
Aud the hot sand storms OF land of
hell,
It'll saw, atiast, through a coast hills
Tie cit, held in its stony lap,
'rho mosqUcs and the domc' OF scorchcd
MusCu',
And my hear, .eaped up with JOY there.
at;
For thore was ship Nt anchor living,
a Christian hng Ut its mast head flying.
And sweetest OF sounds to my home
sick ear
Was my native tongue in the sailors
cheer.
Now tho Lord bo thanked. | am back
again
VIII ere earth has springs and the skies
have rain,
And tho well promised, by oman's
sea,
am digging for him in Amesbufy."
His good wife wcpt, and his neighbors
said;
The poor old captain is out of his
head
But from morn to noon, and from noon
tn night,
lie toilvd at his desk with main and |
might
And when at last, from the loosenod
Garth,
Jnder his spade tho stream gushed
forth,
and fast as he climbed to his deep wells
The water he dug for followed him.
lie shouted for Joy; IL have kept my
and here Is the well promised the
I.orlf'
Thc long years came aud the lon, years
vent,
Us lac sat by his roadside well content;
10 watched the ,rayeleIs, hcat.op.
pressed.
'au SC 10y the we'll to drink and rest,
And the swel'cri''g hOr,es dip, as they
drank,
rhOir rosirils deep in the cool, sweet
tenk;
\ni rrn'rf,l nj heart his memory went
back To that waterivs= Orient,
\nd 'hc hlcr7nt answer of prayer, which