The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-05-11

Il
C.4 built the ire. cooked the i.-st
EJ meat ana fed aud dressed
the wounds of the child. this desirium
lasted three days His suffering WIS
intense His arm the seat o. throb
bling pain. had swollen to twice the
natural size while his side prevented
his taking IL full breath voluntarily
He had paid no attention to his own
hurts. and it was either the yigor of n
constitution that years Of dissipation
had not impaired or some anti-febrile
property of the bear meat or the alb
sence of the exciting whisky that won
the battle. He rekindled the fire with
his last match on the evening of the
third day and looked around the dark
ening horizon. sane. but feeble in body
and mind
If a sail had appeared in the interim
he had not seen it. nor was there one
in sight now. Too weak to climb the
slope. he returned to the boat, where
the child. exhausted from fruitIess cry
ing. was now sleeping. His unskillfui
and rather heroic manner of wrapping
it up to protect it from cold had no
doubt contributed largely to the clos
ing of its wounds by forcibly keeping
it still. though 1t must have added
largely to its present sufferings. He
looked for Il moment on the wan.
tear stained little face. with its fringe
Of tangled curls peeping above the
wrappings of canvas. and. STOPPING
moi n m IN L. h11f
the kiss awakened it. and il cried for
its mother. He could not soethe it.
nor could he try. and with formleSs.
wordless curse against destiny yelling
up from his heart he left it and sat
down on the wreckage at some dis
lance away
We'll very likely get WE'LL" he
unused gloomily. unless let the fire
go out. What then? We can't last
longer than the berg and not much
longer than the bear. We must be or!
of the tracks. We were about 9On
miles out when. we struck, and the
current sticks to the fog belt here
about west-sou' west-but that's the
surface water These deep fellows
no fog We must be to the southwark
of the belt-between the lanes. They'll
run their boats in the other lane after
this. think-the money grabbing
wretcheS Curse them if they've
drowned her Curse them, with their
water tight compartments and their
logging of the lookOuts Twenty-four
boats for 5000 people, dashed down
with tarred grippe lashings. thirty men
to clear them away and not an ak on
the boat deck or sheath knife on a
man. Could she have got away? If
they got that boat down they might
have taken her in from the steps. and
the mate knew | had her child He
would tell her Her name must be
Myra too 1t was her voice | heard
in that dream. That wis hashpesh
What did they drug me for? But the
| whisky WAS all right. It's all done
with now unless / get ashore. but
will -
The moon rose above the castellated
structure to the left. flooding the icy
beach with ashen gray light. sparkling
in Il thousand points from the cas-
cades. streams and ripping pools
throwing into blacklist shadow the gull
| lies and hollows and bringing to his
mind In spite of the weird beauty OF
| the scene a crushing sense of loneli
| ness-of littleness-aS though the vast
| pile of inorganic desoiation which held
him was Of far greater Importance
| than himself and all the hopes. plans
and fears OF his lifetime. The child
had cried itself to sleep again. and ht
| paced up and down the ice.
up there" he said moodily, looking
| into the sky, where a few stars Shons
| family in the flood from the moon
| up there - somewhere - they dom
| know just where-but somewhere III
| above, is the Christians heaven. Or
| there is their good God. who has placed
| Myra's child here-their good God
and down below US. somewhere again
are their hell and their bad god. whom
| they invented themselves. And they
| give us our choice-hea ven or hell Il
| Is not so--not so. The great mystery
| is not solved. The human heart is mo-
| helped in this way. No good, mercifu
| God created this world or it's condi
| tons. Whatever may be the nature OF
| the causes at work beyond our menta
vision, one fact is individually proved
that the qualities Of mercy. goodness
| justice. play no part in the government
| scheme And yet they say the core oil
| all religions on earth Is the belief In
| this. Is 1t. or is it the cowardly, hu
/ man fear OF the unknown that fmpeIi
| the savage mother to throw her babt
/ to a crocodile, that impels the civilized
man to endow churches. that has KEEP
| In existence from the beginning class
Of soothsayers. medicine men, priestl
and clergymen. all living on the hope:
and fears excited by themselves?
"And people pray-millions of then
! and claim they are answered. Are
they? Was ever supplication sent int
/ that sky by troubled humanity an
swered or even heard? Who knows
They pray for rain and sunshine, and
both come In time They pray fol
health and success, and both are but
natural in the marching Of events
| This is not evidence. But they say that
they know, by spiritual uplifting, thai
they are heard and comforted and an
swered at the moment. Is not this &
physiological experiment? Would they
not feel equally tranquil IL they re
peated the multiplication table or box
ed the compass7
Millions have believed this-tha