Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1899-12-01

to Speak lo-oNeASoe ~ HeeAlhS
~ Awe-Relief Only to Be Found in
Hard Work.
:, his narrative of his solitary voy-
- around the world in the sloop
S0rav, Capt. Joshua Slocum describes
I, attempts to overcome the sense of
noliness that beset him on the way
,rom Boston to Gibraltar.
on the evening of July the Spray,
.ftor having steered all day over a
nmpy sea, took it into her head to go
ritbout the helmsman's aid. had been
stoering southeast by south, but the
,rnd hauling forward bit she dropped
,uto smooth lane, heading southeast,
md making about eight knots, her very
hast work. | crowded on sail to cross
. .bo track of the liners without loss of
lime and to reach as soon as possible
tbe friendly gulf stream. The fog lift
mo before night, 1 was afforded a look
at the sun just as it was touching the
sea. watched it go down and out of
sight. Then l turned my face east
ward and there, apparently at the very
SEND OF the bOwsprit, was the smiling
full moon rising out of the sea. Nep-
Eune himself coming over the bows
rould not have startled me more. "Good
evening, sir" cried; "I'm glad to see
you." Many a long talk since then I
have had with the man in the moon;
he had my confidence on the voyage.
d About midnight the fog shut down
again denser than ever before. One
could almost "stand on it." 1t contin-
ued so for a number Of days, the wind
Increasing to a gale. The waves rose
high, but had good ship. Still, in
the dismal fog l felt myself drifting
into loneliness, an insect on straw in
the midst Of the elements. l lashed the
helm, and my vessel held her course,
and while she sailed slept.
During these days a feeling Of awe
crept over me. My memory worked
with startling power. The ominous, the
Insignificant, the great, the small, the
wonderful, the commOnplace-all ap-
peared before my mental vision in mag
ical succession. Pages Of my history
were recalled which had been so long
forgotten that they seemed to belong
to previous existence. l heard all the
voices of the past laughing, crying tell
Ing what had heard them tell in many
corners Of the earth.
y The loneliness of my state wore off
when the gale was high and l found
much work TO do. When the fine wealth
er returned, then came the sense of SOL
1tude, which l could not shake off. I
used my voice often at first, giving
some order about the affairs Of a ship,
Tor had been told that otherwise |
should lose my speech. At the merid-
ian altitude of the sun / called aloud,
Eight BELLS" after the custom on
snip at sea. Again from my cabin l
cried to an imaginary man at the helm,
How does she head, thereT and
again, SIS she on her c6tirse?" But get
ung no reply, l was reminded the more
palpably of my condition. My voice
sounded hollow on the empty air, and l
dropped the practice.
however, 1t was not long before the
thought came to me that when l was a
lad used to sing; why not try that
now, where 1t would disturb no one?
wy musical talent had never bred envy
Ill others, but out on the Atlantic, to
realize what 1t meant, you should have
heard me sing. You should have seen
'he porpoises leap when l pitched my
voice for the waves and the sea and
oil that was In it. Old turtles, with
large eyes, poked their heads up out Of
tne sea as sang Johnny Boxer" and
Wen Pay Darby Doyl for His Boots"
dnu the like. But the porpoises were,
Vi vi the whole, vastly more appreciative
.aan the turtles; they jumped deal
n'gher. One day when was humming
taVoplte chant, think it was Baby
,ons a-Fallin'," porpoise jumped
n'gher than the bowsprit. Had the
spray been going little faster she
Would have scooped him in. The sea
o'rus sailed around rather shy.-Cen-
tury.