THE CAPTAIN OF THE NORTHFLEET.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1091, 22 July 1873, Page 3

THE CAPTAIN OF THE NORTHFLEET.

BY GERA.T/D MASSET, So often is'thb'-pfo'ud l deed done By menliko this at duty's call; So many.are the honours won By them, we canri6t wear them all! They make the l heroic commonplace, And dying thus the natural way; Yet is pur world-wide.English race " Ennobled by that death, To-day! It brings the thoughts that fathom things, To anchor fast where billows roll; It stirs us with a sense of wings That strive to lift the earthiest soul. Love was so new, and life so sweet, But at the call he left the wine And sprang full-statured to hi 3 feet, Eespousive to the touch divine. " Nay, dear, 1 cannot see you die. For me, I have my work to do Up here. Down to the boat. Good-bye, God bless you ! I shall see it throuyh." We read, until the vision dims And drowns; \ but, .ere the pang be past, A tide of triumph overbrims And breaks with light from heaven at last. Thro' all the blackness of the night A glory streams from out the gloom; His steadfast spirit holds the light That shines till Night is overcome. The sea will do its worst, and life Be sobbed out in a bubbling breath ; Bat firmly in the coward strife ' There stands a man who hath vanquisht Death! A soul that conquers wind and wave, And towers above a sinking deck; A bridge across the gaping grave; A rainbow rising o'er the wreck.

He saved others; saved the name Unsullied that he gave his wife . And dying with so pure an aim, He had no need to save his life. Lord! how they shame the life we livej These sailors of our sea-girt isle, Who cheerily take what Thou mayst give, And go down with a heavenward smile! The men who sow their lives to yield A glorious crop in lives to be; Who turn to England's harvest field The unfruitful furrows of the sea. With such a breed of men so brave, The Old Land has not had her day; But long, her strength, with crested wave, Shall ride the seas, the proud old way.