The herald., 1897-05-30

sadness, of discord. and harmony, OF
longing and regret and gladness-these
were heard and many more. There was
a note, too, that seemed. at once too deep
and to faint to be expressed by any or
dinary emotion. James Whitcomb Riley
describes 1t better than any words Of
mine that could be put on paper:
"As when in dreams we sometimes hear
A melody so faint and fine,
And musically sweet and clear
It havors all the atmosphere
With harmony divine
So often In my waking dreams. II Il'S
! hear melody that seems
Like fairy voices whispering Y
To me the song never sing.'
The voice Of the sea Is not the voice Of
the fairy; but IL we listen we can hear
the song we never sing.
+ + +
wonder II that poem of Riley's was
written before Ralph Waldo Emerson
died, and IL the great transcendentalist
ever read 1t. 1t seems as II Riley must
have read Emerson's essay on the Over
soul and gained inspiration from 1t. For
when we hear 1.-THE Song We Never
Sing" we are listening to our own souls.
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So much has been said about the re-
sistlsss power and merciless energy Of
the ocean that 1t seems superfiuous to
speak Of 1t here And yet on this mild
day in May, with its surface almost un-
ruff1ed and only the lazy swell to mark
the unrest of the waters, there came an
object lesson that Is planted deep in
the soil Of memory.
= \ =
The incoming tide had thrown an
empty barrel upon the beach. To make
It again the plaything Of the waters, I
tossed 1t back again. 1t was promptly
cast upon the shore again, few rods
further down. Again and again tossed
1t back, and as often did the sea spurn
the toy At last, with one supreme eff
fort, I cast 1t far out on the tide, expect
ing to see 1t again returned. But the
fckle siren had changed her mind. The
barrel never came back. Straight out
toward the horizon 1t went, against the
wind, against the tide, through the
breakers-on, on, on. When last saw
1t it was half a mile away, headed for
where? 1t was a striking illustration
Of the mysterious power Of the waves,
of the capriciousness of an occult vital
force that all the ingenuity Of man has
never been able to master.
Ellis steps are not upon thy paths-thy
fields
Are not spoil for him-thou dost arise
And shake him from thee: the vile strength
he wields
For earth's destruction thou dost all de-
spise,
Epurning him from thy bosom to the skies.
And send'st him. shivering in thy play
full spray,
And bowling to his gods, where haply lies
His petty hope in some near port or bay.
Ard dashest him again to earth; there let
him lay"
Long Beach ID a great place for fiehing.
They catch everything there from CO.
feet whale to two-inch smelts and sar-
dimes 1t was amusing to watch the fish,
ermen. Two boys bumped UP to the pier
in sail boat and threw out twenty or
twenty-five fine fish, barracuda and yell
lowtail, and sailed away again as If the
catch was all in the days work, and I
presume it was.
Near by was hale old man who came
down the pier and selected his fishing
place as IL he had done that same thing
every Saturday afternoon for half
century. He had all the tools of his sport
with him, and lost no time in getting
down to business. Then the old fellow
began to haul out the ridiculous fish
with much the same air as the two boys
tossed out their three and four-foot
barracuda and yellowtail. Both under
stood their business. The boys were not
after smelte, and the old mans hooks
would not have held the flap of bara-
cuda's rakish tail.
Then there was, man who looked like
Kentucky colonel and he understood
his business too. He was after neither
big barracuda nor little smelts. He was
fishing juet where the big waves break
into suds, and pretty soon he hauled out
fine silver sea sucker that weighed at
least four or five pounds. I heard him
say as he skillfully snapped the verte-
brae Of the free coinage fish: II lost an
other little while ago that weighed
fully seven pounds" There was human
nature for you. 1t is always the big fish
that get away!
+ = =
saw the whale, of course. The sea
was kind to him, she is always kind to
her own children, but swordfish and
man were too much for him. He was Of
the greyback species, so they said, a
quite scarce species and it is to be pre-
sumed that discharge papers from the
Confederate army were concealed about
his blubber. He was broad of beam and
large of taiT' as our old friend Couueli-
cot sang the cetacean brother that fire.
quented the North sea- He had a very
large mouth and must have been of
generous disposition. never saw q
narrow, mean man with large mouth.
Whales live to be very old-perhaps this
was the very whale that did not swallow
Jonah. But the mouth was large, enough
to have done the swallowing act with
the greatest of ease and this is sufficient
proof to satisfy the average theologlan.
4 \
When Elvira put up our luncheon she
planned to have lobster-crawfish--fo
the piece de resistance. Hungry time
came and she started over to town in
search Of the desired shellfish. But
alas! the close season was in and there
was none to be had. But when Elvira
wants anything real bad' she usu-
ally gets it. So she went into grocer's
shop, from which she emerged with
look Of triumph and small package.
When the time came to eat she set
certain dish before me and said. tive
wanted lobster and we've got it," And