A LESSON FROM THE SEA.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 300, 19 September 1888, Page 2

A LESSON FROM THE SEA.

tm From the shore I gazed o'er a stormy sea, As a strong wind swept its wa\ &*, And impelled them on with a mighty force To mysterious rocks and caves. Oh, so grimly brown, yet so white, that sea t So exceedingly fierce and high : It appeared enraged with its mighty self As its spray tore madly by. Many uild waves broke with a sullen roar 'Mid a sheet of seething- foam, Which was straight recalled by a backward rush To its-ever-ch-.nyina: home, llnw 1 lovnT to follow a ci-jHted-hea 1 In its patii across the warte ; And to watch its course, as it shoreward! sped In its grandly solemn haste. Then to see It break, with a leaping crash. But a few yards off from me ; How I pitied those who were even then Far away on that dark sea. But oi.e crest I saw high above the rest, And I traced its course with dread 1 ; On and on it came, then — no angry burstBut it kissed the shore instead I Yes, its wrath was spent, and it gently played With the pebbles near my feet : And it seemed to say unto me that day. In a voice both clear and sweet: " Oh, distrust lul heart I why so often look At a trial you dread may come ? For that very wave may at last but end In a sheet of silvery foam." For the Btorms of life are in- loving hands. And though wind and wave may roar, Often breakers change into ripples soft When they really touch the shore. And, if not, trust on, thou wilt surely find That the Father's arms are cast Righ around his child, who needs only rest^ On the strength that holds him fast f Charlotte Murray.