The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1901-09-26
THE HERMIT OF CAPE MALEA.

THE HERMIT OF CAPE MALEA.
Whv he Lived and Died on Stupendoua
Cliff. Within Sight and Sound OF the
Ocean.
There Is one feature of Cape Malea that
rarely fails to attract the notice OF the
most careless voyager doubling It. by
day, a touch of human tragedy and
pathos, belonging in point of chronology
to our own time, but in universal inter-
est to all ages. At the extreme pitch Of
the cape a stupendous cliff rises sheer
from the fretting waves for about hum
dred feet. Then comes an irregular
plateau or shelf, of perhaps two acres
in area, the mountain rising again
abruptly behind it to a height Of about
1000 feet. This plateau is apparently IN
accessible, and yet, perched upon huge
bowlder in its centre, a mass OF rock oe. :.
house. It is rudely built Of wooden
fragments ingeniously fitted together,
but its outlines convey at once the luea
of it's designer having been an Anglo
it is exposed to the full fury of wind re,
| bounding from the mountain face, and
the observer instinctively wonders why,
If house must be built on that shelf,
50 terribly exposed ,nato Pos,,lon was hs wll sH
hear its story, says E. T. Bul1en, in the
London Spectator.
About twenty-five years ago there was
a young sailor who, by dint Of hard Work,
Integrity of character and .irmness OF
viii. reached at the age of 2s the summit
of his ambition-becoming master OF what
would then be called good-siZed steam
ship, some 800 tons register. Upon TINS
to good fortune ne nsd the
| waited for him since as boy and glrl
sweethearts they parted on his first going
to sea. And with rare complacency, MS
owners gave him the inestimable privilege
him. How happy he was! How deep and
all embracing his pride, as, steamlng
down the gri1ny Thames, he explained to
the light Of his eyes all the wonders
that she was now witnessing for the nrst
time, but which he had made familiar to
her mind by his oft-repeated sea stories
during the few bright days. between
voyages that he had been able to devote
to courtship! The ship was bound 70
several Mediterranean ports, the Time 1s.
most ideal season for a honymoon that
could possibly be imagined. Cadiz, Genoa.
Naples, Venice, delightful tour with not
one weary moment wherein to WISH 1or
old Rome from Naples had been possible,
for the two officers, rejoicing In tner
happy young shippers JOY, saw to 1t that
no unnecessary cares should troupe MN,
and bore willing testimony, IN order tnas
| he should get as much delight out OF
those halcyon days as possible, that the
entire crew were as docile as could pe
wished: devoted to their bright command
er and his beautiful wife.
Then at Venice came orders to proceed
TO Galatz and load wheat Tor nome.
Great was the glee Of the girl-wife. She
| would see Constantinople and the Dan
ube: Life would hardly be long enough
| to recount ali the wonders OF TINS most
wonderful Of wedding trips; ana 1neS
10y as the blue sky above them seemed
WeNing over with sunlight. Wind and
weather favored them; nothing occurred
to cast g. shadow over their happiness
until, nearing Cape Malea at that fatai
hour Of the morning, just before dawn,
when more collisions occur than at any
other time, they were run into oy
| blundering Greek steamer coming tne
other way, and cut down amidshlps 10
or or quiet appreciation of the nights sill
yern splendors succeeded the overWheim-
ing flood, the hiss and roar OF escaping
steam, the suffocating embrace or oeath;
In that dread fight for ne npfaas an pes.sneS ef
menSthe skipper. Instinctively clinging
to a piece Of wreckage, he had been
washed ashore under Cape Malea at tne
ebbng of the Scanty tlQe, ana MS SIioiS
nhvsioue. reasserting itself, enabled him
r. climb those rugged battlements and
reach the plateau. Here he was found
| gazing seaward by some goatherds, VINO,
in search of their nimble-footed nocks,
had wandered down the precipitous sloe
of the mountainf They endeauored 10
persuade him to come with tnem pach
r. the world, but in vain. He would live,
gratefully accepting some Of their poor
provision, but from that watching place
he would not go. And those rude peas
ants. understanding something OF MS
woe. sympathized with him so deeply
that without payment or hope OF any
they helped him to build his nut ana
kept him supplied with such poor morI
sells of food and drink as sufhced Tor MS
And there, with his gaze fixed during
all his waking hours upon that inscru-
table depth wherein all his bright hopes
had suddenly been quenched, ne nved
until unit quite recent years. 'the world for
getting, by the world forgot" a living
monument of constancy and patent, un-
Complaining grief. By his humble friends,
whose language he never learned, he was
regarded as a saint, and when one day
thew came upon his lifeless body, fallen
forward upon it's knees at a little glazed
window through which he was wont 70
look upon the sea where his dear one lay,
thew felt confirmed in their opinion OF the
sanctity of the hermit Of Cape Malea.