The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1912-11-30
liz maSZZJ MZ0 0eRZARD Ez1zE

down to the sea in ships? Will he not rather
give an ear to the tales of strange things
and believed by saorfolk?
It is the writer's pleasure to waste time sailing
the sea in small craft, usually alone. Upon one
of these voyages. having anchored upon the edge
Of the More Sands, he awoke in the middle OF the
night to find himself enshrouded by a thick fog
eerie enough the unintiated reader will doubtless
Think Upon isohias out at-the black woolly
wall of fog that surrounded him. he distinctly
heard his own name hailed the water
No other craft was near. This struck him as be-
ing so peculiar that he mentioned 1t to a friend
when he arrived at one of the little anchorages
and the skipper Of a barge CHANGING to overhear
said: That's the OF gentleman OF the More!
Often Of foggy nights ye may ear i'm ayelling
aht in a kind O. 'elpless way, but sometimes is
language is something horful. They say az e
was a first mate wot dropped overheard and
swan to the sands where e walked about until
the tide rose an drownded i'm"
Upon another occasion was sailing along the
coast Of France under the cliffs upon which
stands Girls Nez lighthouse which is about the
most powerful light In the world It a very
dark night, and the revolving rays Of the light
house kept flashing upon the sails of my boat,
lighting them like a powerful searchlight, until
proceeding along the course I got out Of their
range. The strange effect had been forgotten.
only to be remembered in time to prevent me
from becoming a firm believer in ghosts. There
out at a ghostly ship was sailing; she
rather too modern perhaps, to be a real ghost
for every sail set like glove-ghost ships we're
never particular In this respect-indeed she was
one OF those fine ships out OF Glasgow which are
the last words in sailing craft.
From apparently nowhere a ship had come
q ship uncannily glowing with unnatural light
Her sails were surely cobwebs and her ropes
were spider strings
Strange sights and sounds frequently come the
way of seafarers
The groveng kissing sea, breaking through
the night Its appearance is CHASTITY gray 1t
comes from nowhere, It fades away soon after.
What could not the imagination weave it into?
Shape or sound Of spirits chased by the Evil One
the dying wife with arms outstretched. or sound
of mothers voice. Moreover such messages as
dead; the howl OF the raging gale, or the muir
have borne the departing message in words that
were exactly those the lost one whispered last
To the mind Of one who knows the sea- II
would seem strange that sailors are not more
superstitious than they are and there are GER
tanly many reasonable excuses for their belief
in such stories that Of the Flying Dutchman
patch OF swirling vapor through the rigging OF
HE ship upon dark night Imagination does
the rest: he has seen the Flying Dutchman
Cornelius Vanderdecken. Dutch navigator OF
long ago. was making a passage from Batavia
For days and days he encountered heavy gales
and banning head winds while trying to round the
Cape OF Good Hope. Struggle against the winds
as he would. he lost much one tack as he
gained upon the other Struggling vainly for
nine hopeless weeks he ultimately found himself
In the same position be In at first the
ship having made no progress. Vanderdecken
in q At Of wrath. threw himself on his knees