Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-09-03
THE RAYS WORK.

OF all the beautiful things in this |
beautiful world there was none that the |
little ray loved so well as the summer |
sea He and his comrades would play |
by the hour together with the rippling
wayelets, darling from one to another |
in dazzling, mad flashes of light, spread |
ing themselves over the waters, a sheet |
of molten gold, till a touch of the |
winds light lips broke it up into q thou |
sand shimmering fragments. And the
waves loved their playmates. too, and
each, as the rays kissed it, became itself
little golden sun. sending forth its light
into the radiant air, for the sea, like q
tickle, lovable woman, answers back to
all in their own moods and is loved Just
because she cannot be trusted. Then,
where the waves broke ON the golden
sands or round the clean, dark rocks !
the little rays would fill their foamwith ,
light till it shone more brightly white !
than the Jungfrau' S crest, and the music |
of the waves breaking was joy sng |
for their own loveliness- 'aIiIlIhg, they |
ran up the smooth sandL embraced /
with teasing play the Rmall pink feet
which scampered away 'efore them,
while the suns rays flashed r<S their
surface to meet the light, brighter stllI,l
which shone from children's eyes Oh,
those were happy days. and as the little
ray danced along over the waters he
hoped that they never might end.
But time came when the voice of
the wind sounded from altar. The sea
heard it and was troubled to its depths
at the new life of power and strength
which was tearing within it, while the
wavelets far and wide raised their tiny
crests, and in ripples of white foam
| whispered the news one to another. The
clouds, too, heard the voice and gath
cred together ut its bidding to spread
themselves a thick, dark curtain over
the sea and hide from the suns face
| the things which We're to be. And so
the little ray could visit the sea no
longer nor join any more i'll sport with
| his favorite playmates. At this his
| heart was very sad, and he took no de-
| light in the other pleasures to which
| his comrades called him. They told him
| of the wild games they played with the
| wind shaken leaves of the forest; of the
| snow cold peaks which they crowned
with dazzling splendor of jewels; of fog
laden valleys filled with dream forms of
weirdest, strangcst loneliness; of mys-
teries of beauty revealed midst the
worlds most squalid drcariness. But it
was all i'll vain. The little ray longed
for his lost playmates and would care
| for none of these things
As he wandered sadly among the
heavy, driving clouds, losing himself
in their sullen masses, searching for
some Crevicc through which he might
| penetrate. one of them pitied him.
"Sincc you will il 50. sail she. Il
| will l,t You through. thuugh fear you
will full that dreams that are past can
never la dreamed again. Then she
shrank back from hvr ncighbur. and
with enc swift word uf thanks the little
ray durt,d down through the opening
tho had made.
Down he went to tho sea below and
there lay quivcring and lost in its black
gulf oh, what n changed world ID
wasl Above him the tempest hurried
along and shouted to the waves rs IL
went, and the waves threw their white
heads mp and answered back in crashing
thundcrs. Death. death. and tho end
of all things!' passionately yelled the
tempest HRuinv" reared the waves
"Naught is that can Withstand us!''
world of darkness and tumult and
terrible unrest. The little ray lay where
no had lighted, tremulous and afraid,
now glimmcring for an instant among
cataracts of rushing foam and then lost
again in the dark depths of the water.
"Ha!" cried the waves when they saw
him. so you arc here. little ray. The
world is changed since Won saw it last. -
Changed indeed" said the ray. ''Oh,
1
my playmateS:'' But the waves laugh.
ed, shaking spray from their crests till
the tempest caught it and whirlcd ID
mountain high in the air. Give us
the winds for playmates," they cried,
land the mems lives for our sport. Talk
to us not of tho wretched, spiritless
days that arc past The world is worth
living in now" But you were happy
then. You rrioiccd in the earth's beau
ty and were happy. said the little ray
wistfully. because we knew no bet
ter" they answered. I'VE have learned
since then that there is something fairer
than beauty. more glorious than joy.
oh, the rapture of fury when we raise
the ship high in the air to hurl he,
down on the rocks bencath-the cruel
rocks whom we love and inger to kiss
and Unfold in our soft white arms even
then in the joy of that moment of pow
CT. To crush into pieces the mighty
vessel with all its wealth and labor Of
workmanship; to scatter abroad the
heavy fragments, flinging them to ant
fro in the very scorn of our sovereign
strength; to watch men gasp in theil
death agony as we lift ourselves aboy,
their writhing bodies, and then to crasl
down and dash the life from their lips
this Is power, little friend; this is pow
er. and there is no glory in the work.
like the glory of power.
The ray grew chill and wan and trem
bled as he listened. us there nothing
| then, left which is fair to look upon in
all this waste of watcrs?' he cried, anS
he wandered dismally ON. Everywher'
! the same dark CULTS and white crestet
mountains mingling together In tumuI
ruous chaos; everywhere floating fras
ments of wreck and the stain Of eartl
torn from its parent shore; ruin and de
! struction and nothing that was fair 4
: look upon.
Far out to seq O woman, with a chill
in her arms, fioated alone in q small
open boat. Alone they had been save
: from a wrecked and sunken ship-saye'
from drowning. as it seemed, but to di
of hunger, and for hours they had tosse'
helpless ut the mercy OF the waves
Many a ship had come near them, bu
tho woman's cries were not heard i
the bowling of the tempest, and b.
+ meath the darkened sky tho fiutterin
/ rag she waved was lost In tho spra
which enveloped her. So the ships wen