MAY THEY SLEEP WELL!

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 611, 23 May 1882, Page 2

MAY THEY SLEEP WELL!

' Who speaks of the decadence of our race ? . I Who says our ISritisbi blood has ihinner ■ grown, In this "new England of tbe Southern Seas," Than when it flooded the rich veins of those Who drew the yew at Crecy, or who sank The huge Armada from tbat bigot shore They after rescued from the foeman's grasp ? Who says so is a liar false and perjured, Witness the tale I tell. 'Tis sweet indeed, In these unhappy times, when secret death Haunts statesman's chambers in our mother land, To tell the story of a gallant few Who showed in dying they knew how to die. Roaring hoarsely, as for victims moaning, While every plank aboard each ship was groaning, Groaning as if loth to part asunder, Willi a sound of thunder, Came the sea. Where the shifting shingle ledges rattle, Churned to fury by the wild waves' battle, Where the breaking rollers madly ride, And man's poor works deride, Came the sea. There was no wind to wake the surge's fury ; It came from some great gale of far away, Bringing its foam a hundred leagues to break, Mad with its race, in Timaru's wild bay. That Sabbath mom broke full of gloom and sorrow : Two gallant ships were laboring with the waves That broke around them in gigantis rollers, Threatening each tiuio to be the seamen's graves. At lasttbe gallant craft,their cables parted, .Seemed helpless drifting on the stony shore, And their brave crews, weary, but still brave-hearted, Left them to fate, and sought tho land once more. Brave Mills the drifting barques in sorrow viewed, Resolved to save or perish with the wreck, And, with a gallant following, dared the waves, And safely reached the wounded vessel's deck.

But tho last link that held the ship from death Gave way, and mortal man could do no more, And the three boats that held the brave fifteen Steered once again to reach the friendly shore. Mark how the eager crowd expectant stand, With straining eyes, to watch each struggling crew, Now mounting on the tall wave's frothy crest, Thenhiddenby the billows from their view. There are poor women 'mid that anxious throng, Whose hearts are bursting at the dreadful sight Of those frail vessels tossed upon the tide, One fragile plank 'twixt life and endless night. ; » Son,husband.father, lover, friend are there; Each anxious heart is thrilled with fearful pain At the dread thought that those they love so well May never glad their happy homes again. Hurrah! they're Hearing fast; a few strokes more, And then the breakwater's protect ing arm Will shield them i'rom the fury of the sea, Aud bring them to their loved ones safe i'rom harm. Ah, see! they mount on yonder raging swell! They're safe! No, one is swallowed in the surge. Back go the gallant crews their friends to save ; But hark! the foaming billows shriek a dirge, And bury all within their white embrace, And tear them from the planks to which they cling, Crushing in cruel sport, while from the beach From mai>3' a loving heart the cries of anguish ring. But see ! the lifeboat hastens to their aid. Hurrah ! they're rescued from the raging foam. Alas! she too 13 whelmed; but now she rights, And with a lessened number reaches home. Cheers such as Timaru had never heard Welcomed the heroes as they gained the land ; A thousand hearts were lightened of their pain, A thousand sought to aid the weary band. Eut a sad thought, forgotten in their joy, Came o'er them, that the whole had not returned; And then the saved ones told a gallant tale, At which their hearts with deepest sorrow burned.

How tbe brave dead, amid tbir sore distress, Had, all unselfish, thought of others'woes, And, in the hope to save their weaker friends,

Gone unrepining to their last repose. And then, worn out by the mad billows' strife,

Their gallant leader, Mills, was carried by. Alas! the sea had spared his life in vain ; He only reached his own dear home to die.

Sad is the tale, and many a loving heart Will bear its imprint till from life they part; Yet a just pride each manly heart will swell, To think that those in this new land who dwell Bear that heroic ardour in their breast That's raised our Britain far above the rest, Carried her name to many a distant land, And carved its future with resistless hand, Till our brave deeds in every land have rung, And tbe world echoed with our Saxon tongue. SILAS WEGG.