The Washington herald., 1909-08-22
THE TOUCH O. THE SEA
By ROLAND THOMAS.
By ROLAND THOMAS.

them with an almost tender regret. Now.
for the first time. he found a responsive
listener, a fellow-belieyer rather, who
shared his longing for the vanished ro-
nance and sentiment and under the en-
enlargement Of her quick sympathy and
understanding he talked with a simple
eloquence which was more effective than
either Of them guessed.
Then was the time for a watchful aunt
to have looked 70 windward and have put
a dragon uncle on sentry-go, for the step
TO more personal things was easy, almost
Inevitable. John was soon talking. with
the same simple eloquence Of deep en-
thusiasm and love, OF his own people, and
through his eyes Helen Mlnturn saw the
sleepy town on the shore OF Cape Cod
Bay. with the tidal creek bubbling In the
marshes and the old square white house
on the hfl above them from which so
many generations Of Griersons have gone
down to the sea-and where so many
Grierson women and children have waited,
with the pathetic patience OF sea-born
folk. for the return Of a ship or for the
news which makes a blank OF life at first
And so at last. one afternoon. Miss Min
turn heard how something had called John
Grierson from the easy path OF college
aud profession which had been marked
out for him. and had made a sailor OF him,
too. Somehow or other. John said, he
thought It was the memory OF all those
GriersOns who had been walters on the
sea which had summoned him.
His tongue was stumbling enough when
he required It TO speak of such unspeak-
able things as his own emotions. and in
the midst OF his self-analysis he broke OF
all this" he said
Because ia rather hear It than any
thing else any one could say" said the
girl gently. You just had to go. didn't
your"
Yes" John answered simply; Il had
to 60"
You're so luckyr" she cried, half en-
viously. $50 many OF US can't puzzle out
our place in life at all. and you found
yours without a struggle
Except for my mother" John correct
ed She had lost her father and her
brother and my father at sea already.
Il know" said the girl, and was silent
for little. do yousl1now." she said at
last. Il think IN spite OF that she'd rather
you'd be where you belong? And you. you
don't regret II, do your
NO" John muttered That Is only
caught hers. and hung there, and there
was a longing in them which brought the
blood to the girls check Sometimes"
he said earnestly. as II the words came
from him without his will, when / think
that I can never hope for the things
other men take a matter OF course.
home. and-and-" John glancirg side
ways at his companions glowing face,
realized that he was talking his heart
out to this inhabitant Of another world,
and became speeches. once more. Partly
for shame's sake. partly for something
else. All at once he knew how sorry
he was that this girl with the prettily
commanding ways did belong 10 a world
so far from his. And Miss Minturn, in
fected by his awkwardness. perhaps. was
silent too.
That night-it was the sixth out from
Yokohama, and the Hankow was laboring
IN the trough OF q heavy swell which
makes down from the nOrthward along
there-John sat In the smoking-room after
all the other men had dropped away 10
/ bed. deep in his own uneasy thoughts. At
last he knew what a scurvy trick Fate
had played him IN that week which he
was to remember regretfuliy all his life.
II only he had not been a sailor. or II
the girl had come Of seafaring folks-John
in his mOdesty felt that he had nothing
10 Offer which could tempt her. and In
his honesty he knew that nothing one
could offer would make IL right for
man 10 let a tenderly nurtured woman
share the cruel uncertainties OF a mer-
chant mariners life With his Purltanical
training. and his PuritRnical proneness
for the academic solution OF nice moral
problems. John had long ago decided that
If he had a right 10 marry at all IL was
only with a woman Of his own class.
Injured TO the tragedies Of the sea- II
was already decided for him, onhand
that he could not fall in love with Miss
Minturn It was hard decision to agree
with. but he managed IT,
And he had no sooner agreed than. after
the manner Of men on the brink OF love,
he lost sight Of the ethical aspects OF his
case in a sudden, Overwhelmingly roseate
vision Of what might have been. With
astonishing vividness he saw Helen Min
turn. Helen Grierson now. turning away
up the gravel path that leads through
banks Of tiger lilies 10 the side door OF
! the old white house. after a goOd-by
whose sadness was not all painful Just
as wildly he experienced the rapturous
completeness Of each return from sea.
when Helen Gricrson would be waiting
for him under the old gnarled trees OF the
orchard. And as each successive picture
rose before him he became less and less
the Puritan clasping thorny duty with
unfilnching hands and more and more
the rebellious boy complaining at his fate
and half inclined tO Try fall with IT,
a sudden stiffness called him from all
that. On a long fair-weather voyage one
becomes attuned 10 the ever-recurrlnS
r11otarY1nY,fc nd fboscarI r,,,rFua4 -,
OF a ship and they pass unnoticed, except
when they stop. It took John a moment
TO realize that the HankOw's engines were
shut of and that only her momentum was
carrying her forward with a gentle whis-
per OF water alongside. quite different
from the sharp kissing and bubbling OF
the waves parted by a vessel under way
At the same time the watch officer on
the bridge sang out IN q mellow roar
Bark. ahoy What bark is that?"
It is hard 10 bring TO any one who has
not experienced It a realization OF the
hugeness and emptiness OF the Pacific. or
of the monotony OF a voyage across its
| thousands OF leagues OF slowly heaving
blue. Even those who have crossed the
Atlantic often have little conception Of
the desert waste old ocean really is. for
the thronging commerce between Europe
and America moves In a very few narrow
and crowded lanes, where Il is as natural
TO meet a fellow wayfarer as on a coun-
try road. But in the vast expanse Of the
mid-Pacihc. where the Hankow was then.
even on established routes OF passage
the CLINT OF a sail or the smudge of a
smoke plume on the dim horizon lire IS
an event Once of these little fire.
quented paths a disabled ship might drift
for months undiscovered, now that the
ubiquitous whalers are gone. To speak
another ship there is a rare event and
the hail Of the second mate brought John
TO his feet.
He flung open the door OF the port