Charles W. Sanders

“ I love the wave, And the sailor brave, Who often meets his doom On the ocean vast, And sleeps his last In a shell and coral tomb.
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And, in the night, The moon's soft light Smiles sweetly on the foamy billow: And many a star, As it twinkles afar, Seems to rise from a watery pillow.
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In the noontide glare, Oh! bright and fair Is the wide expanse of ocean; In the morn's first light 'Tis a glorious sight, So full of life and motion.
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When the tempests sweep The rolling deep, And the angry billows swell, I mind not the strife, Which to me is rife With thoughts that I can not tell. ”

“ The midnight oil burns dim; but he finds light and knowledge in the lamps of heaven, and his soul is never weary, when the last of them is hid by the splendors of the morning.
5. And HIGHER! his voice thunders forth, when the dignity of manhood has mantled his form, and the multitude is listening with delight to his oracles, burning with eloquence, and ringing like true steel in the cause of Freedom and Right. And when time has changed his locks to silver,—when the young and the old unite to do him honor, he still breathes forth from his generous heart fond wishes for their welfare. ”

“ Through the din of twenty rolling centuries, pierces the sharp, stern voice of the brave old Greek: "Let every man, when he is about to do a wicked action, above all things in the world, stand in awe of himself, and dread the witness within him." All greatness, and all glory, all that earth has to give, all that Heaven can proffer, lies within the reach of the lowliest as well as the highest; for He who spake as never man spake, has said that the very "kingdom of God is within you." ”

“ It makes a sad desolation when, from such a place, a mother is taken away, and when, whatever may be the sorrows or the successes in life, she is to greet the returning son or daughter no more. The home of our childhood may be still lovely. The old family mansion—the green fields—the running stream—the moss-covered well—the trees—the lawn—the rose—the sweet-brier—may be there. Perchance, too, there may be an aged father, with venerable locks, sitting in his loneliness, with every thing to command respect and love; but she is not there. Her familiar voice is not heard. ”

“ SECOND VOICE. When thy soul would quail from scorning, Keep a brave heart and a bold; As we always shine the brightest When the nights are cold. FIRST VOICE. 3. Hast thou not a greeting for me, Heaven's own happy minstrel-bird'? Thou whose voice, like some sweet angel's, Viewless, in the cloud is heard'? SECOND VOICE. Though thy spirit yearneth sky-ward, Oh, forget not human worth! I, who chant at heaven's portal, Build my nest on earth. FIRST VOICE. 4. River! river'! singing gayly From the hill-side all day long, Teach my heart the merry music Of thy cheery, rippling song. ”

“ FIRST VOICE. 2. Why must the flowers die? Poisoned they lie In the cold tomb, heedless of tears or rain. SECOND VOICE. O doubting heart! They only sleep below The soft, white ermine snow, While winter winds shall blow, To breathe and smile upon you soon again. FIRST VOICE. 3. The sun has hid its rays These many days; Will dreary hours never leave the earth? SECOND VOICE. O doubting heart! The stormy clouds on high Vail the same sunny sky, That soon, (for Spring is nigh,) Shall wake the Summer into golden mirth. FIRST VOICE. 4. Fair Hope is dead, and light Is quenched in night. ”

“ Not in prosperity's broad light, Can reason justly scan The sterling worth which, viewed aright, Most dignifies the man. Favored at once by wind and tide, The skillful pilot well may guide The bark in safety on; Yet, when his harbor he has gained, He who no conflict hath sustained, No meed has fairly won. 2. But in adversity's dark hour Of peril and of fear, When clouds above the vessel lower, With scarce one star to cheer; When winds are loud, and waves are high, And ocean, to a timid eye, Appears the seaman's grave ”

“ And we sometimes have longed for its holy repose, When our spirits were torn with temptations and woes, And we've drank from the tide of the river that flows From the evergreen Mountains of Life. 3. Oh! the stars never tread the blue heavens at night, But we think where the ransomed have trod; And the day never smiles from his palace of light, But we feel the bright smile of our God. We are traveling homeward, through changes and gloom, To a kingdom where pleasures unceasingly bloom, And our guide is the glory that shines through the tomb, From the evergreen Mountains of Life. ”

“ With eyes whose gaze, unvailed by mists, Still rises, clearer, higher,— With stainless hands, and lips that Truth Hath touched with living fire,— 8. With one high hope, that ever shines Before you as a star,— One prayer of faith, one fount of strength, A glorious few ye are! 9. Ye dare not fear, ye can not fail, Your destiny ye bind To that sublime, eternal law That rules the march of mind. 10. See yon bold eagle toward the sun Now rising free and strong, And see yon mighty river roll Its sounding tide along! ”

“ Great, very great, is the difference between the elements; the earth is mute and the ocean speaks. The ocean is a voice. It speaks to the distant stars; it answers to their movements in its deep and solemn language. It speaks to the earth on the shores, replying to the echoes that reply again; by turns wailing, soothing, threatening—its deepest roar is presently succeeded by a sad, pathetic silence.
7. And it especially addresses itself to man. It is creation's living eloquence. It is Life speaking to Life. The millions, the countless myriads of beings to which it gives birth, are its words. ”

“ It is not what we read, but what we remember, that makes us learned. It is not what we intend, but what we do, that makes us useful. It is not a few faint wishes, but a life-long struggle, that makes us valiant.
II. GOD'S LOVE. There's not a flower that decks the vale, There's not a beam that lights the mountain, There's not a shrub that scents the gale, There's not a wind that stirs the fountain, There's not a hue that paints the rose, There's not a leaf around us lying, But in its use or beauty shows God's love to us, and love undying! ”

“ Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful main! Earth claims not these again. 3. Yet more, the depths have more! thy waves have rolled Above the cities of a world gone by! Sand hath filled up the palaces of old, Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry. Dash o'er them, Ocean! in thy scornful play! Man yields them to decay. 4. Yet more, the billows and the depths have more! High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast! They hear not now the booming waters roar; The battle-thunders will not break their rest. Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave! Give back the true and brave! ”

“ The mountain lake and the meadow stream are inhabited only by the timid prey of the angler; but the ocean is the home of the leviathan,—his ways are in the mighty deep. The glittering pebble and the rainbow-tinted shell, which the returning tide has left on the shore, and the watery gem which the pearl-diver reaches at the peril of his life, are all that man can filch from the treasures of the sea. ”

“ A gloom overhung every thing; the banks of cloud seemed to settle around us; the moan of the ocean grew louder and more fearful. Still our little boat pushed doggedly on: victorious through all, we thought that here, too, she would conquer, though the beating waves sent shudders through her whole frame.
6. An hour passed; the air below, which had all day been increasing in closeness, was now almost stifling; but our men lost no courage. Some sang as they worked; and the cadence of their voices, mingling with the roar of waters, sounded like a defiance to Ocean. ”

“ They have brought their fancies from wood and dell, Where the mosses creep, and the flower-buds swell; Rare shall the harvest be! 3. They are sowing the seeds of word and deed, Which the cold know not, nor the careless heed,— Of the gentle word and the kindest deed, That have blessed the heart in its sorest need; Sweet shall the harvest be! 4. And some are sowing the seeds of pain, Of late remorse, and in maddened brain; And the stars shall fall, and the sun shall wane, Ere they root the weeds from the soil again; Dark will the harvest be! ”

“ Oh, who that has gazed, in the stillness of even, On the fast-fading hues of the west, Has seen not afar, in the bosom of heaven, Some bright little mansion of rest, And mourned that the path to a region so fair Should be shrouded with sadness and fears;— That the night-winds of sorrow, misfortune, and care, Should sweep from the deep-rolling waves of despair, To darken this cold world of tears? ”

“ And on the wished-for beam hung fast The slender, silken line. Slight as it was, his spirit caught The more than omen; for his thought The lesson well could trace, Which even "he who runs may read," That perseverance gains its meed, And patience wins the race. 8. Is it a tale of mere romance'? Its moral is the same,— A light and trivial circumstance'? Some thought, it still may claim. Art thou a father'? teach thy son Never to deem that all is done, While aught remains untried; To hope, though every hope seems crossed, And when his bark is tempest-tossed Still calmly to confide. ”

“ The avalanche, shaken from its glittering steep, if it rolls to the bosom of the earth, melts away, and is lost in vapor; but if it plunge into the embrace of the ocean, this mountain mass of ice and hail is borne about for ages in tumult and terror; it is the drifting monument of the ocean's dead. The tempest on land is impeded by forests, and broken by mountains; but on the plain of the deep it rushes unresisted; and when its strength is at last spent, ten thousand giant waves still roll its terrors onward. ”

“ There's not a bird upon the tree; There's not a dew-drop on the flower, But bears the impress, Lord, of Thee. 2. Thy hand the varied leaf designed, And gave the bird its thrilling tone; Thy power the dewdrop's tints combined, Till like the diamond's blaze they shone. 3. Yes, dewdrops, leaves, and buds, and all The smallest, like the greatest things,— The sea's vast space, the earth's wide ball, Alike proclaim Thee King of kings. 4. But man alone to bounteous Heaven, Thanksgiving's conscious strains can raise; To favored man alone 'tis given To join the angelic choir in praise! ”

“ Value not the lips Swiftest kept in motion, Fleetly-sailing ships Draw no depth of ocean: Snatch the chary gleam, From the cautious knowing For the deepest stream Scarcely lisps 'tis flowing. 9. Cull from bad and good Every seeming flower, Store it up as food For some hungry hour: Press its every leaf, And remember, Johnny, Even weeds the chief May have drops of honey. 10. Pomp and power alone Never make a blessing; Seek not e'en a throne By one wretch distressing. Better toil a slave For the blood-earned penny, Than be rich, and have A curse on every guinea. ”

“ Even as we looked, the devoted boat was caught between the steamer and the iron-clad,—a sharp sound of crushing wood was heard,—thwarts, oars, and splinters flew in air,—the boat's crew leaped to the "Monitor's" deck, Death stared us in the face; our iron prow must go through the Rhode Island's side,—and then an end to all. One awful moment we held our breath,—then the hawser was cleared,—the steamer moved off, as it were, step by step, first one, then another, till a ship's length lay between us, and then we breathed freely. ”

“ The most fearful and impressive exhibitions of power known to our globe, belong to the ocean. The volcano, with its ascending flame and falling torrents of fire, and the earthquake, whose footstep is on the ruin of cities, are circumscribed in the desolating range of their visitations. But the ocean, when it once rouses itself in its chainless strength, shakes a thousand shores with its storm and thunder. Navies of oak and iron are tossed in mockery from its crest, and armaments, manned by the strength and courage of millions, perish among its bubbles. ”

“ In short, the mind does not cease to feel the charm of endless growths; but needs variety, change of diet, less of perpetual feasting, and something of the blessings of a fast. This winter gives. It says to us: You have had too much. You are luxurious and dainty. You need relief and change of diet.
4. The cold blue of the sky, the cold gray of rocks, the sober warmth of browns and russets, take the place of more gorgeous colors. If, now, one will accept this change in the tone of nature, after a time a new and relishful pleasure arises. ”

“ The mystery of the ocean had breathed its first whisper in the bosom of night. Daybreak would clear it up openly to every eye. Delicious and unknown perfumes reached the vessels from the outline of the shore, with the roar of the waves upon the reefs and the soft land breeze.
9. The fire seen by Columbus indicated the presence of man, and of the first element of civilization. Never did the night appear so long in clearing away from the horizon; for this horizon was to Columbus and his companions a second creation of God. ”

“ There may be those there whom we much love; but she is not there. We may have formed new relations in life, tender and strong as they can be; we may have another home, dear to us as was the home of our childhood, where there is all in affection, kindness, and religion, to make us happy; but that home is not what it was, and it will never be what it was again. It is a loosening of one of the cords which bound us to earth, designed to prepare us for our eternal flight from every thing dear here below, and to teach us that there is no place here, that is to be our permanent home. ”

“ Once the adopted child of the ocean, he can never bring back his entire sympathies to land. He will still move in his dreams over that vast waste of waters, still bound in exultation and triumph through its foaming billows. All the other realities of life will be comparatively tame, and he will sigh for his tossing element, as the caged eagle for the roar and arrowy light of his mountain cataract. ”

“ The body is wound in the drapery of its couch, much as if the deceased were only in a quiet and temporary sleep. In these habiliments of seeming slumber, it is dropped into the wave, the waters close over it, the vessel passes quickly on, and not a solitary trace is left to tell where sunk from light and life, one that loved to look at the sky and breathe this vital air. ”