Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-23
HORRORS OF LONELINESS
Crossing the Atlantic Without a Soul to
Speak To.
Over come by Feeling of Awe-Re.
lief in Hard Work - Singing
Aloud for Company.

| From the Century.
In his narrative of his solitary voyage
| around the world in the sloop Spray, Cap
tain Joshua Slocum describes his attempts
to overcome the sense of loneliness that
beset him on the way from Boston to Gil
braltar.
On the evening of July the Spray after
having steered all day over a lumpy sea,
took it into her head to go without the
helmsman's aid / had been steering south
east by south, but the wind hauling for
ward a bit. she dropped into smooth
lane heading southeast. and making about
eight knots. her very best work. l crowded
on sail to cross the track of the liners
without loss of time, and to reach as soon
as possible the friendly gulf stream. The
fog lifting before night, l was afforded Il
look at the sun just it was touching
the sea 1 watched it go down and out of
sight. Then l turned my face eastward
and there. apparently at the very end OF
the bowsprit. was the smiling fun moon
coming over the bows could not have star
tied me more. Good evening. sir, L
cried: I'm glad to see you Many long
talk since then 1 have had with the man
voyage.
About midnight the fog shut down again
denser than ever before. One could al
most stand on it, 1t continued so for
>,
gale. The waves rose high. but l had
good ship Still, in the dismal fog 1 felt
myself drifting into loneliness, an insect
on straw in the midst of the elements.
l dashed the helm, and my vessel held her
course and while she sailed l slept.
During these days a feeling OF awe crept
over me. My memory worked with start
ling power. The omnous. the lnslsnl1l-
cant. the great. the small, the wonderful,
the commonpace-all appeared before my
mental vision in magical succession. Pages
of my history We're recalled which had
been SO long forgotten that they seemed
to belong to previous existence. L heard
ali the voices of the past laughing. crying.
telling what l had heard them tell in many
corners of the earth.
The loneliness Of my state wore Off when
the gale was high and l found much work
to do. When the fine weather returned.
then came the sense of solitude, which l
could not shake off. l used my voice often
at first, giving some order about the al
fairs of a ship. for i had been told that
otherwise / should lose my speech. AT the
meridian altitude of the sun l called aloud,
Eight bells after the custom on ship
at sea. Again from my cabin l cried to
an imaginary man at the helm, How does
she head. there?" and again. rs she on
her course?' But getting no reply. | was
reminded the more palpably of my condi-
ton My voice sounded hollow on the
empty air. and / dropped the practice.
However, it was not long before the
thought came to me that when | was lad
1 used to sing; why not try that now,
where it would disturb no one? Ny musi-
cal talent had never bred envy in others,
but out on the Atlantic. to realize what
it meant. you should have heard me sing.
You should have seen the porpoises leap
when pitched my voice for the waves and
the sea and all that was in it. Old turtles.
with large eyes. poksd their heads up out
of the sea as | sang Johnny Boxer and
We'll Pay Darby Doyl for His Boots,
and the like. But the porpoises were, on
f.tI q
the turtles; they jumped d deal higher
One day when / was hummng a favorite
chant. | think it was "Babylon's a-Falln',
a porpoise jumped higher than the bow
spirit Had the Spray been going little
faster she would have scooped him in. The
sea birds sailed around rather shy.