Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-10-21

wv ing over yonder in the cove?'
ooh that is Tom Little-Lamp's
shanty."
-'Is it necessary that lamp should be
kept so near the lighthouse on the
point?"
tom considers it necessary for the
safety OF the fishermen and pleasure
parties that go out from the village
wonder. Tom is character. Would
You like to go over and call? / have
heard that there was boat wrecked
there once, ard that friend OF Tom S
was drowned. Perhaps he will tell you
the story; he tells it sometimes, but
I have never heard it. I have been
told by people who know him well that
in order to make him talk you must
keep silent yourself. He is one Of those
peculiar people who are always abe TO
distinguish between real sympathy and
vulgar curiosity"
The tall. comely, wcather-beaten man
knew pretty Mabel. the daughter Of the
village pastor. and when she introduced
her aunt as one whose home was on
q rugged hilltop far inland where the
pine trees near her door caught the
high winds when they whispered to
her Of tie sea, he invited them to rest
in his house.
cts q rough little place." he said,
'but I can show you there some of the
treasures and mysteries Of the sea.
and you viii hold them in your memory
while your great tree is whispering its
stories of waves and tides, and will
help you to fancy that you are only to
lift your eyes and look afar in order to
see breadth of blue water and per-
chance a white sail"
The man hesitated in his talk, eye
ing his visitors curiously, as if wonder
ing if he was giving too much Of himself
but the woman said, gently:
The sea and the mountains alike be-
long to God"
yes" he said, "and it is impossible
10 love the one and not hold the other
also in your heart. I love the sea, but
/ love TO think that the mountains are
standing firm, while the waves are in
a tumult. always find comfort in that
thought, but God can quiet the troubled
sea and bring comfort to troubled
hearts. I never used to think of it in
that way. I was careless and happy
and called the sea a garden of beauty,
and treasure vaslt, and mirror for
the heavens, and everything lovely and
beautiful of that sort.
"When I was little fellow, frolick-
ing with the waves on the beach, be-
gan making a collection OF sea treas
ures, and as I grew older and had q
boat Of my own, I added to it constant
". 1t was better than this" and he
threw open 4 door Of aninner room and
mctioned for them to enter.
As they looked about, their delighted
but mute appreciation touched his
heart, and his sad face lighted with
qualification. The room was like a gTot-
TO, its sides being shelves Of fiat, gray
rock, over which, as we'll as over the
stone floor, were scattered pebbles
shells and seaweed. The one window
looked out seward between two huge
rocks, and so artistically had the idea
been carried out that they felt them
selves to be standing on an ocean cav
ern.
"No one knows of that assure until
allow them to enter this ROOM" said
Tom. although familiar with the
beach it was long time before knew ii
myself. An old sycamore stood just in
front of the cleft, and all about twas a
tangle Of vines and berries and all sand
loving weeds. No one ever tried to get
near the trunk of the old tree until
came along here after my boat washed
ashore upset seeking for traces of he1
body. I climbed up over the heap OF
drift, thinking to reach the top OF the
ledge, and WIS astonished to find the
crevicc.
"The tide was coming in, and as I
looked down into the caldron of the
boiling waves I saw girls hat with its
drenched blue ri3bons. 1 ished it out
after awhile, and found without doubt
that it was the hat she wore that after
noon.
"Of course I supposed she was
drowned, and thought that her body
might have been sucked in here also.
After that haunted the place by night