A GREYHOUND OF THE SEAS,

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 90

A GREYHOUND OF THE SEAS,

By a Banker,

The" departure from an English port, bound for Canada or -the States, of one of Jhose mighty greyhounds of the sea, those great floating cities with a. population of thousands; is a spectacle of extreme and abundant interest. As the hour approaches Jor he vessel to sail, trainload after irainload j>t passengers crowd up her numerous gangways, some tearful ancl dejected as the thought flashes through their mind that th' ara

Hashes through, their mind that they are leaving their native land for ever,- and -will, perhaps, never on this earth again -see their kith, and kin; some buoyant and joyous a.% . the thought of the new life opening up for them 1 ; and some pale and trembling, an<3 half transfixed with fear at the prospect of encountering 1 the unknown terrors o£ • the deep. ' Here is a crowd of Russian Jews — men-, women, and children — squalid, unkempt, ancl unhealthy, driven out of their own oountrx fey bloodihirsty persecution and relentless-, fiendish savagery; here an enamoured: young couple, newly wed^ full of sanguine; hope* and exultant anticipations, -going forth hand in, hand -together "to share the joys and the sorrows and to fight the battles of life in a new country; or here a young man, jh<4 , only son of a widowed mother, bidding her a long farewell, while she, her heartstrings rift in twain, and with an aching sorrow too acute for tears, realises that the parting is_ for all time, and that, her. span of- Ufa will be over long before he returns. Or hero a man, cunning and knavery stanrped upons Ms couirtenance, furtively glancing . around! ' as he hurriedly crosses the. ■whafE - tdwarda the gangway. But' -the sleuth hounds off th,e law have tracked him down, and aa with a look of relief he places his hand or* the rail, he feels a tap on the shoulder, and? the next moment he is handcuffed and hustled lon to a prison van. . And so it goes on, h~our after hour, until all the threa thousand, souls are safely onboard; Ehe gangways are removed,- the syrens sounds a final hoot, the hawsers are lefl , go, and the giant ship skfwly start's on hei£ long voyage midst waving of handkerchiefs, •tears and smiles, and many » token os I affection wafted across the water to Jhoa* left behind. i But those severed ones, though parted periiaps for all time, will again be reunited! in the land of glory if only they each conform their lives to the laws of their Maker aa expressed in His written Word, accepting His offer of pardon through the atonement made by the Saviour of the world, who aa their substitute expiated their sins on tho , cross. But alas, m some cases there will I be a great gulf fixed between them, im.«> ! passable, untrodden.