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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/76233-0.txt b/76233-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fd49b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2696 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76233 *** + +Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. + +[Illustration: THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN.] + + + + [Illustration] + + + WAITING FOR SAILING ORDERS. + + + FISHER-LIFE AT THE LAND'S END. + + + BY + + MRS. GEORGE GLADSTONE + + AUTHOR OF "NORWEGIAN STORIES," "FIRESIDE STORIES," ETC. + + + [Illustration] + + + THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY + 56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD; + AND 164, PICCADILLY. + + + + [Illustration] + + PREFACE. + + [Illustration] + +SOME weeks have elapsed since the author of this little story was +separated by death from a dear and honoured mother, to whom she +submitted all her literary work, on whose criticism she relied, and in +whose judgment she placed implicit confidence. "Waiting for Sailing +Orders" was the last story which passed under her aged mother's review; +the title had a special charm for the latter, who knew not how soon her +summons would come, but always kept her lamp trimmed, and was prepared +to meet her Lord, at whatever hour He sent His summons. + + Her children were standing round her death-bed, wondering if +consciousness yet remained, and how long the spirit would linger +ere it fled to the mansions of the blest, when she said, in such +clear and distinct tones that all in the room could hear, "I am +waiting,—waiting,—waiting, for my sailing orders to come." + + Three days later her sailing orders came, and the sweet smile which +lingered in death made those who were left behind rejoice in the midst +of tears, because it seemed to speak of the joy and bliss into which +the spirit entered when the "waiting" was over and a long eternity in +view. + + + + [Illustration] + + CONTENTS. + + [Illustration] + +CHAPTER + + I. MACKEREL FISHING + + II. THE GREAT SORROW + + III. THE OLD TAR + + IV. THE LAND'S END + + V. GRANDFATHER'S TALES + + VI. ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT + + VII. WILLY'S BIRTHDAY + + VIII. MIDSUMMER EVE + + IX. PILCHARD FISHING + + X. THE STORM + + XI. SAILING ORDERS + + + + WAITING FOR SAILING ORDERS. + + [Illustration] + +CHAPTER I. + +MACKEREL FISHING. + +[Illustration] THE fishing village of Newlyn, which stretches about a +mile along the west shore of Mount's Bay, in Cornwall, presented a busy +scene one morning in April of the year 1862. The mackerel season had +just begun, and some of the boats came in heavily laden. + +"What's the take?" asked an old woman of a sailor. + +"A thousand downwards," was the reply, which meant that the number of +mackerel in each boat varied from that number to one hundred, fifty, +twenty, ten, five or not one. + +In Mount's Bay the boats are large, and among the safest and best craft +to be found on any fishing coast. They each carry a crew of seven men, +who share equally in the profits, after a certain portion has been set +aside for the use of the vessel and the nets. + +The "Mary Ann," which brought in the thousand mackerel, belonged +to John Trevan. He was a man much respected in Newlyn, for all +his dealings were fair and upright. He had for partners six other +fishermen, of whom he was the captain, and who deferred to him at all +times, placing the most implicit confidence in his judgment. + +As the ship's boat containing John Trevan and his mates came near the +shore, the agents of several London fish-dealers waded through the +water to bid for the finest mackerel. The bargain was soon concluded to +the satisfaction of all parties; then the fish were thrown into baskets +and carried on to the sands, where they were turned into a tub of +water, washed, packed neatly in the same baskets, and carried away in +carts to the railway. The hake, cod, conger eels, a few soles, and some +very small mackerel that remained, the crew divided with their captain. + +Mrs. Trevan was awaiting the arrival of her husband with her basket. +Every Cornish woman owns a basket of some sort: those carried by the +fish-women are called "cowels," and are supported on the back by a band +passed round the forehead. + +"We've had splendid sport, Philippa," said John Trevan to his wife, +"and there's a fine lot for home use. Let's have a conger pie for +to-morrow. I'll be in to dinner; but we must hang our nets to dry +first, and clean up a bit. The boat's off again at six. I can afford to +take my holiday to-morrow cheerfully, after my good fortune of to-day." + +"Yes, John, and if only we can have fine weather like this, you'll +enjoy it," answered Mrs. Trevan. + +"We must work hard all the afternoon, for the nets have got sadly +broken. Father will have more than he can do, a boat ran clean through +one of mine." + +Philippa Trevan gathered up her share of fish, and placing it in her +basket, walked slowly up the narrow road from the sands, towards +Street-an-Nowan, or New Street, close to which she lived. + +Newlyn is the principal fishing station in Mount's Bay. It is divided +into two parts, which can only communicate, the one with the other, +by the sands, unless you go far into the country, over the high hill +which leads to the church-town of Paul. In ordinary tides the sea comes +nearly up to the stepping-stones, but sometimes it dashes against the +cliff, and renders the shore too dangerous to be crossed, even in a +boat. The houses are irregularly built, and the streets are narrow, +ill-paved, and in many parts run along the top of the sea wall, with no +protection from the waves except what is afforded by a strong open iron +railing. + +Mrs. Trevan turned up narrow Rag-stone pathway before she reached the +end of New Street, and mounted four steps which led into a comfortable +sitting-room in a whitewashed cottage. The small door to the right +opened into the best parlour, at the back were the kitchen and +grandfather's bedroom, and overhead three more rooms. + +An old man, a very old man, with snowy hair, sat in his arm-chair +reading out of a large printed Bible; and in spite of the difference of +years, his features were so like Mrs. Trevan's, there was no difficulty +in recognising the relationship of father and daughter which existed +between the two. + +"You're soon home, Philippa," he said; "have you good news?" + +"Very good, father; John has taken a thousand mackerel, and sold them +well. He says there will be more work than you can do to mend the nets." + +"I'll try my best, Philippa. We expect to mend them up every day. The +Lord Jesus isn't here with his disciples. I'd just read these words +when I heard your footstep: 'Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to +land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all +there were so many, yet was not the net broken.'" + +"No, He isn't walking in our midst as in those times, father," said +Mrs. Trevan, "but he's just as near to us in spirit as he was then. I +never see John start without commending him to God in Christ. I think +as I grow older my Saviour seems to come nearer. But for his living +presence in my heart, I could not go about my daily work as cheerfully +as I do. Remember my boy, my first-born, and the awful uncertainty +about him. Oh, father, I try hard to think of what my Saviour suffered +on the cross for me, so as to get strength to endure my own sorrow with +a lighter heart." + +"Poor Philippa," answered the old man, tenderly. "Be of good courage. +God will hear our prayers. I'm on the mountain-top of my pilgrimage, +very soon I shall be running fast down the other side, entering into +the dark valley and shadow of death; but I believe I shall see the lad +before my sailing orders come." + +"You've such strong faith, father. Mine is dimmed sometimes with +waiting and longing; but only dimmed for the moment, for through all +my bitterness of spirit, I remember that my Heavenly Father loves +and cares for my poor misguided son. But here come the children from +school." + +Mrs. Trevan had just time to take up her basket and go hurriedly into +the kitchen, drying her tears, when Dorothy and Judith, her twin +daughters, entered, and coming up to their grandfather, kissed him +affectionately. The old man returned their caresses, for he loved these +girls next to, if not as well as his own daughter. He lived over past +days with them, for they never wearied of hearing of the perils by land +and sea, which had overtaken him during his long life. + +Dorothy and Judith would complete their thirteenth year on the morrow. +They closely resembled one another in features, but were unlike in +disposition; for while Dorothy was high-spirited and quick-tempered, +Judith was mild, tractable, and quiet. Their figures were upright and +well-formed; they had bright jet black eyes, and long curling hair, +fresh complexions, and frank open faces. They wore the gipsy hats +made of beaver which are now out of date, short light-coloured print +dresses, dark-blue knitted stockings of their own making, and strong +leather boots. + +"Have you done well at school this morning?" asked their grandfather. + +"Yes, very well," answered Dorothy. "I did my sums so quickly that +teacher said she was pleased for me to have a holiday to-morrow. She +remembered that we spent our birthday at the Land's End last year +with great-uncle Thomas Nance. You know Judith is always good at her +lessons, grandfather." + +"That's right, Dorothy," answered Captain Nance, for so the old man +was called. "Do try, there's a good girl, to deserve the praise you've +just bestowed on your sister. Let Judith be able to say of you, 'She is +always good at her lessons.'" + +"I do try, grandfather, to be attentive, but I can't always be the +same. Judith hasn't such a nasty temper as I have to worry her." + +"There's one cure for it; we may all go to the Great Physician, my +little girl. How you will enjoy yourself, Dorothy, when to-morrow +comes! I didn't think I should live to go with you again; I shall +be fourscore years and ten if God spares my life until the 9th of +November." + +"That is a long, long time compared with our thirteen years," said +Dorothy. + +"It is a long time to have lived, my dear. I shan't be much more tossed +on the billows, for the storm of life will soon be over, and my poor +old weather-beaten bark will be safely landed on that happy shore where +the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." + +"But, grandfather, what shall we do without you?" asked Judith, laying +her soft cheek on the old man's. "We are so happy together." + +"So we are, dearie, but it's not the happiness of yonder world. Don't +want to keep me here, little one; you must try and be very glad when +the old tar has his sailing orders." + +"Come, children," called their mother, "lay the table for dinner. I +have plenty to do to make ready for your birthday trip to-morrow." + +Dorothy and Judith were soon busy in household matters, and we will +leave them so engaged while we give a short account of the family to +which we have introduced our reader. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE GREAT SORROW. + +JOHN TREVAN was among the most prosperous inhabitants of Newlyn. He was +an industrious man; his wife was thrifty, and he had a small family to +support. It consisted of one son, who had wandered far away from his +father's house, eight years before our story commences, and the twin +daughters. + +John Trevan married Philippa Nance, at the age of thirty-five. He +brought his wife, who was six years his junior, to the whitewashed +cottage we have described, where his parents had lived before him. Her +father came too, for he could not be separated from his only remaining +child. When Philippa consented to marry John Trevan she stipulated that +her well-beloved parent should share her future home. + +"He will be no burden upon you, John, for he has enough to keep him," +she said. + +To which her future husband replied, "He would be welcome for your +sake, Philippa, were he penniless." + +A boy was born to them at the end of two years. This event brought +great joy to the little circle; but as the lad grew in years, his +parents had many reasons for deep anguish regarding him. He was +named William, after his grandfather; and known to all in Newlyn as +"mischievous Willy." He was brought up carefully, and taught to fear +God; but he spurned the good, and clung to the evil; yet sometimes, +when his mother took him into her room, and knelt in prayer to God, +with him at her side, his tears would come, and he would say,— + +"Mother, it is so hard not to be naughty." + +And she answered him, "I know it, my darling boy; but do not trust +to yourself, pray to God, Willy, to make you a better lad. Ask your +Heavenly Father to give you His Spirit to help you, and change your +heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He will not refuse to hear your +prayer if you ask in Christ's name." + +For one or two days after an outbreak Willy was more obedient, and then +he began to be tiresome again. He had no regard for truth, and played +truant so often that at last either his father or mother took him to +school every morning, and gave him into his teacher's charge, before +they went about their daily work. + +When Willy reached his tenth year, his twin sisters were born, and for +a few weeks all went smoothly with him. He loved the little baby girls, +and felt very proud when his mother allowed him to hold one of them in +his arms, but this novel pleasure wore off, and he was again running +wild with unruly boys. + +"I must send him to sea a year or two hence, under some wise captain," +said John Trevan to his wife, many times. "I can't keep him at home if +he does not turn over a new leaf. He'll have to think when he has to go +before the mast, and be obliged to obey; and he'll be quite away from +his bad companions." + +But the mother clung to her prodigal; her love for him grew all the +more because Willy's friends were so few, and because he was the child +of so many tears and prayers. + +A hundred years ago smuggling was rife in Cornwall, and contraband +goods and spirits were netted instead of fish. Then Wesley and +Whitfield roused the people up to better things by their preaching, and +taught them to reverence God and believe in His Son. Willy had heard +many wonderful stories about these smugglers, and he thought it was +just the sort of life that would have suited him. He wished those old +times were not over, for he disliked the hard work of a fisherman's +life. + +So time passed on until Willy reached his fifteenth year. On the +morning of his birthday, he quarrelled with his father, and refused to +help him dry his net. John Trevan grew angry, and high words passed +between the two. The end of it was, that the boy packed on his clothes, +and when his father went out fishing and the rest were asleep, crept +to the old teapot where his mother kept her money, and having robbed +her of two sovereigns, stole away from his home, and took the road +towards Plymouth. He walked some miles before he ventured to get a lift +in a waggon, lest he should be recognised and taken back to Newlyn. At +Plymouth, he engaged himself to a captain who commanded a large ship +bound to Lagos, in Africa; but a bad unprincipled man. Thus far he had +been traced, and eight years had passed away without bringing him home +again, or a message or letter being received from him. + +Mrs. Trevan was bowed down with grief when she found her son had left +his home without bidding her farewell. So soon as she discovered that +her little store of money was gone too, and thought of her first-born +as a common thief, she moaned out in the bitterness of her sorrow, "My +heart will break. Oh, Willy, Willy! What have I done that you should +treat me so cruelly?" + +John Trevan was indignant. "Let him go," he said; "I do not own a thief +as my son." + +But when year after year ran on, he forgot Willy's faults, and only +yearned to clasp him in his arms once more. No family prayer ever +closed without remembering him. His mother felt she could give him up +if only she knew what fate had befallen him, and that he had turned to +God. + +The little girls retained a vivid remembrance of their brother; they +hushed their voices when his birthday came, it was so differently kept +to their own; there was no holiday-making. Their mother looked sad, and +always went out alone before breakfast, up the hill behind Newlyn, into +the fields, to a point which commanded a view of the broad ocean. Her +birthday prayer for Willy was that he might come home, not as he left +her, but with a new heart and a right spirit. + +The little circle at Newlyn would have known but few cares had Willy +been with them, a steady well behaved boy. + +"It's doing us good," John said to his wife, when they reverted to +their great sorrow. "Perhaps we should have grown away from God if our +boy had given us no trouble; but now He's chastening us, and teaching +us the value of having a Father in heaven, to whom we can tell out all +our troubles. I am like your father, Philippa, I believe God will help +Willy, as He has helped us, and bring him home again." + +The mother sighed when her husband spoke thus, and answered, "God grant +it may be so." + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE OLD TAR. + +"GRANDFATHER, make haste," said Dorothy and Judith, tapping at the old +man's door, next morning. "It's past seven, and breakfast is ready. +We're to go away at ten o'clock. Father has ordered the cart to come +punctually." + +"Many happy returns of the day to both of you," answered Captain Nance, +opening his door. "Come in, my dears, and let me say my birthday wishes +here. I believe I was up the first in the house this morning, and see +I've got on my best rigging. It's only on such gala days as these that +I dress up my old weather-beaten hulk so grandly; and I've put on all +my medals, too, in your honour." + +"You look fine, grandfather," exclaimed the little girls. "You must +tell us some old stories about them to-day." + +"So I will, little ones; I'll try and make your day cheery. I've done +nothing but think about you since I opened my eyes this morning. I've +been talking to the Lord about you: I've asked Him to give you a good +passage through life." + +"Thank you, grandfather," said Dorothy, throwing her arms round the +old man's neck and kissing him. "But now you must come, for father +and mother will be waiting. After breakfast we will go into the best +parlour, and you shall tell us all about yourself." + +"Oh, yes, do, grandfather!" added Judith. "But now come with us." + +Each of the little girls took possession of a hand, and led the old man +into the everyday sitting-room. + +Captain Nance was quite accustomed to be so escorted, and he was just +as submissive after the morning meal was ended. He allowed himself +to be guided into the best parlour and seated in an arm-chair, while +Dorothy and Judith placed themselves at his feet to hear some passages +of his eventful history. They knew it well; certain parts of it they +could repeat from memory, but still they liked to listen, for their +grandfather invariably added some detail which gave fresh charm to the +story. + +"We've a whole hour before us," said Dorothy; "so begin directly, +please, grandfather. Just say off quickly what happened to you, and +then let us ask questions." + +Captain Nance cleared his throat, and began, in these words: + +"I have borne the battle and the breezes of a life on the sea for more +than fifty years. I have been in four quarters of the world, and have +been four times shipwrecked. I have crossed the Atlantic thirty times; +I have lost four sons at sea; I have been in four battles at sea; I +have saved two men from drowning. I have been a standard-bearer in the +temperance army for more than forty years, and I have belonged to the +Band of Hope for nigh upon a quarter of a century. Now I have coiled +up my ropes, and am safely moored in a sailor's cot with those whom I +love, and am patiently waiting for my sailing orders, bound on a long, +long voyage, from whence there is no return—for ever and for ever. +Amen." + +"Now, Dorothy, which part do you want to hear about?" asked Judith, +breaking the silence which fell over the little party after the "Amen." + +"I know," replied Dorothy, whispering into her sister's ear first, and +then repeating the same words aloud: "Grandfather, tell me about my +uncles who were lost at sea, if it won't make you very sad." + +"No, no, child: I ought not to be sad, an old tar should be a brave +man. Thank God, your grandmother didn't live to see those days. I +buried her in the churchyard yonder, at Paul, long before the sea +swallowed up my sons. They were fine young fellows, and God-fearing +men; they prospered and rose rapidly in the service, until they +became master mariners. Three were lost within a few weeks of one +another. They were outward bound to foreign parts. I can't tell you +how they died: no one on this earth knows what they suffered, for +ships, captains, officers, passengers, and crews, went down. But +though they didn't reach the harbour of refuge here, Christ, the great +Harbour-Master, came alongside and welcomed them into glory. Ah! My +children, I'm proud to think of your uncles as honest Christian men, +and as now safe with Christ. + +"I blessed the name of the Lord even when my heart was bowed down with +grief," said Captain Nance, reverently, after a pause. "Learn to thank +God, my dear grandchildren, when He gives and when He takes away." + +"And what of my fourth uncle, grandfather?" questioned Dorothy. + +"My fourth boy, my Benjamin, yet remained to gladden my life. He was in +America when the news of his brothers' death reached him. I expected +him to return home in a few months' time, so I wrote and told him how I +longed to see him, for he was my only son. He sent me a letter filled +with words of comfort, and directed me to lean on the Rock of Ages +in time of storm. He said he would be homeward bound earlier than he +expected, and that a few days after his letter reached me, he would +probably set sail. + +"I counted how long it would take him to reach Plymouth if the weather +were in his favour. I made allowance for contrary winds, and decided +when I might expect him here. A week before it was possible for him to +come, a great storm arose, and the Master was not in the ship to say, +'Peace, be still.' But He was watching; he hadn't forgotten my brave +boy; he had prepared a mansion for him, and his Heavenly Father wanted +him to fill it. The ship went down, and only two of the crew were +saved; my boy, and all on board besides, perished; they told me he was +praying when they last saw him. I could only murmur in the first days +of this new sorrow: 'If I be bereaved of my children I am bereaved.' + +"My fifth child was spared to me. Your mother, my dear Philippa, yet +lives to cheer my last days, and God has given me your love. I thank +him for these mercies." + +The old man's tears were falling fast as he said these words. He did +not often weep, but on this birthday morning, the past came up before +him, and while thinking of his grandchildren, he had pictured to +himself what his sons would have been to him in his old age had they +lived. + +"Grandfather, I'm so sorry: I ought not to have asked you to tell me +about my dead uncles. Please forgive me," said Dorothy. + +"I've nothing to forgive, dearie. Though my tears fall I do not fret, +for I know my Heavenly Father has ordered all things for the best. I +shall soon be with my lost ones. I'll not start sheet nor anchor until +I get a clear meridian observation of Canaan, then I will furl sails +and 'lay to' until my Saviour calls me to himself, and allows my old +weather-beaten barque to enter the harbour." + +There was a pause of some minutes, and then Judith said, "It's my turn +now, grand father, and I'm going to ask you how you won your medals." + +"And I'm going to ask you to get ready," called out John Trevan, +opening the door. "Fetch your cloaks and hats, children, while I wrap +your grandfather up in his warm coat, for the wind is cold, and we +can't afford to let him run any risks." + +All was now busy preparation; and in less than half an hour, the party +were on their way to the Land's End. Captain Nance, Dorothy, and her +father, sat on the front seat, and Philippa, with her daughter Judith, +and a large basket of provisions between them, were packed in behind. + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LAND'S END. + +THE first part of the road from Newlyn to the Land's End runs through +charming scenery. The hedges are rich in ferns, foxglove, and wild +flowers, and the trees are well-grown. But as you near the most +westerly point of England, the few trees that rise up here and there +are stunted and poor, while the hedges disappear and are replaced by +fences formed of blocks of granite standing on end. + +It took John Trevan two full hours to drive to the cottage where +great-uncle Thomas and his wife lived during the spring, summer, and +autumn. In winter they were glad to go and stay with their daughter, +who resided at Sennen, a little village one mile distant. + +The cart was left at the Land's End Inn, and its occupants walked +towards the cottage which was a few hundred yards off. It was a simple +building, and stood quite alone on a grassy slope facing the sea, +no habitation but the small hotel being in sight. A board nailed on +the outside wall announced "the first and last refreshment-room in +England," kept by Thomas and Molly Nance. The old couple gathered +many shillings during the season by providing accommodation for those +visitors who preferred bringing their own provisions and being supplied +with crockery, or who required boiling water for a tea-drinking. A case +of minerals stood outside the door, and the sale of them was another +source of income. + +They were awaiting the arrival of their relations. Dorothy and Judith +bounded on in front for the first kisses: Captain Nance, with his +son-in-law and daughter, came more slowly. + +Seldom have two finer old men been seen than were William Nance and his +brother Thomas. The latter was in his eighty-eighth year. + +"Welcome here once more, William," said Thomas Nance. "Thank God for +sparing us to meet again." + +"Yes, brother, I do thank God with you, for his tender mercies. He's +upheld us through the battles and breezes of life for the greater part +of a century." + +They entered the cottage, which only consisted of two rooms. One +of them was usually kept for visitors, but no strangers were to be +admitted that day, and it being early in the season, there was little +fear of any excursionist wishing to disturb the family gathering. + +The morning was exquisitely fine and clear, but the wind was high, and +the waves were scattering their white foam over the cliffs. + +"Shall we go on to the Land's End at once to sing our hymn?" asked +Thomas Nance. + +"Yes," replied his brother, "we must keep to the old rule." + +[Illustration: THE LAND'S END.] + +It is said that when Wesley stood on the Land's End for the first time, +he was deeply impressed with the sublimity of the scene, and exclaimed: + + "Lo! on a narrow neck of land, + 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand, + Secure, insensible: + A point of time, a moment's space, + Removes me to that heavenly place, + Or shuts me up in hell." + +It was the hymn which contains these words the brothers sang at their +annual meeting. + +"Come, children, we will go first," said John Trevan. + +They took the narrow path leading over the cliff to the granite rocks +that form the Land's End promontory, and rise up out of the sea some +sixty feet high; and standing close together on the point known as +"Wesley's spot," sang the beautiful hymn which commences thus: "Thou +God of glorious majesty." + +When the last notes died away, the brothers walked together in silence +towards the cottage; Mrs. Trevan followed with Aunt Molly, but John and +his children lingered behind to admire and enjoy the magnificent scene. +Judith clung close to her father, she was afraid of looking down into +the deep sea or scrambling over the rocks without holding him firmly by +the hand. Dorothy had no such fear, but watched the dashing waves with +delight, and made her way alone through the narrow opening which leads +to the extreme point of the Land's End. + +They found a seat on a flat stone sheltered from the wind by a high +rock; here they sat down and looked out on the broad Atlantic. The line +of coast ends with Cape Cornwall, Longship's Lighthouse rises from a +cluster of rocks about a mile from the shore, while about eight miles +distant a dangerous rock of green-stone, called the Wolf, stands boldly +up. A lighthouse has been built upon it within the last few years; but +in the days of which we write, it had no such beacon to mark it, yet +it was viewed with such alarm by mariners that many contrivances were +thought of. One of them was to fix the figure of an enormous wolf on +the rock, which was to be hollow inside, ad that the wind would make a +loud noise in passing through, and ring the bells that were attached to +it; but the tides were so strong, and the waves dashed over the rock +with such violence, that this proposal was never carried out. + +The rock on which Longship's Lighthouse is built is called Carn-Brâs. +Including the rock, it is about one hundred and twenty-seven feet high. +The walls are four feet thick at the base, and two feet seven inches +at the top. During winter, when the weather is stormy, the tide rushes +furiously against the rock, and renders landing so difficult, that the +men in charge have to keep a large stock of provisions by them in case +of a gale blowing for some days. + +"How many people are there at Longship's, father, to take care of it?" +asked Dorothy. + +"Three, my dear. For a long time there were only two; but once a poor +fellow in charge was cleaning some fish and fell over a rock. He was +dead before his companion discovered him, probably he was killed on the +spot. The living man managed to drag the body within shelter of the +lighthouse, and then he showed a signal of distress; but though the +people at St. Just saw it, they couldn't send help, for a sudden wind +sprang up and a heavy storm raged for several days. Since this terrible +event the change has been made." + +"How dreadful for the poor man to be shut away from everybody, with +only his dead friend near," said Judith, drawing closer to her father. +"I hope he loved God, so that he could talk to him. How glad I am you +don't take care of a lighthouse! I shouldn't like you to live nearly +alone on a rock, and only come home sometimes." + +"If we might be with father, I should like it very much," exclaimed +Dorothy, "I'm so fond of seeing the waves beat up high; and if we lived +at Longship's, Judith, we should see the seals asleep on the rocks." + +"Not many of them, my dear," said John Trevan, laughing. "You must have +picked that up in a school-book. It's a rare thing to see even one seal +in our day. I remember coming across one on this coast, it was about +six feet long, and had short bristly hair. It used to be said that +seals defended themselves by throwing stones backwards at any one who +came near them." + +"That isn't true, father," said Dorothy. + +"No, my dear, I never heard of seals having hands, though they have +five toes on each paw. It's a Cornish story. We deal in all kinds of +wonders here. Remember Jack the Giant-killer was born near to the +Land's End." + +"Oh, do let us hear about him, father. We are in the very best place to +listen to stories of giants and fairies," pleaded Dorothy. + +"Not to-day, for it's time to go in to dinner; but I will promise to +take you to St. Michael's Mount soon, And then young Dick Nelson will +amuse you, for he knows the history of every giant in Cornwall." + +"That will be better than your telling us, father, for we shall get +another holiday," cried Dorothy, clapping her hands with delight. "I do +so like to go in a boat. We shall row across to the Mount, Judith." + +"But you'll be sure to choose a fine day, father," said Judith; "I like +being on the water very well if it's smooth, but I'm so frightened if +the boat is tossed about." + +"You may trust me, little one. But a fisherman's daughter should not +fear even if the wind blows and the waves beat high. Now let us be +moving, for I do not wish your mother or either of the old folks to +have the trouble of coming to call us in." + +Dinner was just ready when Mr. Trevan and his daughters entered the +cottage, and the little party were very soon cosily sitting at the +round table eating heartily, for the long drive and cold wind had given +them good appetites. The conger pie was pronounced excellent, so were +the pasties and other delicacies provided by Mrs. Trevan. + +Some time after dinner was spent in talking over old times. Each of the +elders of the party had much to say of God's merciful kindness. Then +Aunt Molly proposed a walk to the Armed Knight and the Giant's Rock. +The children were glad to accompany Aunt Molly, and their father and +mother joined them, but the brothers remained in the cottage. + +The Armed Knight is a fine rock which resembles a man in armour. The +face is seen in profile, and the granite is joined so regularly as +to look like a coat of mail. The Giant's Rock is a little farther +inland, and consists of enormous stone boulders eighteen feet long. +On the top of it are three rock basins. One is said to have been the +giant's chair; a smaller stone near goes by the name of his ladle; and +another is called his bed. Fable says that a gigantic race of men once +inhabited Cornwall, who were supposed to amuse themselves by playing +with great boulders of granite. They were said to laugh so loud as +to shake the cliffs asunder; and, if they quarrelled, they fought so +fiercely that the ground was strewn with the rocks they hurled at one +another. + +Of course these old stories and legends gave Dorothy and Judith great +pleasure, and Aunt Molly was so full of anecdote about the giants that +Mr. Trevan was obliged to remind his children that his day's work was +only beginning when he reached home. + +The farewell between the brothers was a touching one. Uncle Thomas +never journeyed so far as Newlyn, and Captain Nance only visited the +Land's End once a year; so that when they took leave of each other, +they felt it might be the last parting on earth. + +"Good-bye," said Thomas Nance; "may God keep you, brother William." + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER V. + +GRANDFATHER'S TALES. + +NOTWITHSTANDING Dorothy's efforts to be good-tempered and industrious, +she did not always succeed. Sometimes she grieved her mother by her +idleness and misbehaviour. The day after the delightful trip, described +in our last chapter, was one of her bad times. Everything seemed to go +wrong at school: her copy was smeared, her sums wouldn't come right, +and after being kept in for some hours by the teacher as a punishment, +she returned home in disgrace. + +When she had been led to see and confess her fault, she said in a +pitiful tone, "Oh, dear! How hard it is to be good. I mean to do +better, but I often get tired of trying, and then I give it up. What +shall I do?" + +"Pray to God," replied her mother, "He will help you." + +"Yes," added Captain Nance, "but you must set yourself to work to +overcome your difficulty as well. You must both pray and strive. No one +knows what they can do till they set about it with all their heart. Did +you ever hear of Daniel Gumb, whom the Cornish people call the Mountain +Philosopher?" + +The children said that they had heard something about him, but begged +their grandfather to tell them his history. This he proceeded to do. + +[Illustration: GRANDFATHER'S TALES.] + +"In the church-town of Lezant, during the early part of the last +century, there lived a poor stone-cutter, of the name of Gumb. He was +a married man, with a large family of children. The eldest, a boy, +was named Daniel, who from a very early age showed great fondness for +study; and though he followed his father's trade, he was delighted when +the day's work was done, so that he might eagerly study such books as +came within his reach. As he grew older, he directed his studies to +mathematics and astronomy. When Daniel Gumb grew into man's estate, he +married, and settled in a little cottage not far from his father; and +now it was necessary for him to work diligently in order to maintain +his wife. He was very industrious, only sometimes mapping stars on the +granite which he was cutting, instead of hewing the big blocks into +shape for building. + +"He made but little progress in his studies, as his family cares +increased, for he had several young ones to feed and clothe, thus +he had no spare time to devote to working out problems. He began +stone-cutting early in the morning, and did not leave off until late at +night; but yet he earned barely enough to keep his wife and children in +the same degree of comfort that his fellow-workmen kept their wives and +children. One thought oppressed him, which may be stated in these words: + +"'I am wasting my time and energies on stone-cutting, when I am +desirous to learn. How can I alter this state of things, and make more +leisure to pursue my studies?' + +"At last he devised a plan. It cost money to maintain his present +position, why should he not seek for some cave where he might live rent +free, and have no taxes to pay? + +"Not very far from Lezant stands Cheesewring, so called, it is +supposed, because it resembles a cheese-press." + +"Do you mean that it's small at the bottom and large at the top, like a +wring they use when they make cider?" interrupted Dorothy. + +"Yes, my dear. The rocks which form Cheesewring are seven in number, +and stand one on the top the other. The lowest three are only six feet +in diameter, while the upper four vary from ten to twelve feet; and +they look so carelessly heaped up, that when I walked underneath them, +I had a sort of fear lest the top boulders would fall and crush me." + +"Please, before you go on, tell me what is the meaning of the word +diameter," said Judith. + +"The width of anything, right through its centre. You will better +understand the shape of Cheesewring if you think of the enormous +top-heavy toadstool we found in the fields a few mornings ago. It had +a slender stalk, and such a large thick umbrella-shaped top, that we +wondered how it was held up by what appeared a thread in proportion. I +was quite a boy when I first saw Cheesewring, and I thought the great +rocks at the top could be pushed over easily. But children, they've +stood for hundreds of years; those heavy boulders, which look ready to +fall, are so evenly balanced on the small ones below, that many sticks, +nay, iron crowbars, and an army of men would be needed to turn over the +tons and tons of stone." + +"How came they to be so queerly put up?" asked Judith. + +"Some say the old Druids had a hand in it, and that they used to +worship them. I don't know how far this is true; but one thing is +certain, Cornwall has no more remarkable objects than Cheesewring and +the Hurlers, which lie near to the former. But to continue my story: +Daniel Gumb decided that the hill on which Cheesewring stands, was +the place where he was most likely to find his future home. Masses of +granite were heaped up irregularly in every direction, and he felt sure +he would soon be able to fix on a spot which would serve his purpose. +At last he found several rocks which were clustered so close together +as to form a rough kind of cavern, and this he determined to make fit +for habitation. First, he widened the opening, then he enlarged the +inside, and propped up an enormous slab, which formed the roof. When +this was completed, he made a bedroom for himself out of a rock that +was situated a little above; it was by no means a large room, in fact, +only sufficiently spacious for him to squeeze his body into. On this +rock he scratched the date of the year 1735. + +"So soon as he had completed his work, he returned to Lezant to bring +his wife and family to their new home. We have but little record of +Mrs. Gumb, beyond knowing that she followed her husband's fortunes, and +removed to the cave with her family, where she remained until her death. + +"Daniel became a much happier man after this, for he had no longer to +keep pace with his fellow-workmen. He only wanted just money enough +to maintain his wife and children from actual want. The roughest +clothes sufficed; the furniture might wear out and break, it would +need no replacing; the landlord would not come for his rent, nor the +tax-gatherer for his taxes; there were no glass windows to smash; there +was nothing in this half-savage rough life which required him to devote +every hour of the day to stone-cutting, in order to make money. He +could shorten his hours of work, and lengthen his hours of study. + +"Society fled from him. His former friends deemed him mad, and his +relations avoided him. Strangers only visited the recluse and his +family, in order to assure themselves that the story their landlady +had told them about Daniel Gumb was no fiction. But what cared the +mountain philosopher for the world's opinion, or his relations, or his +friends. He could map out the stars, and solve difficult problems at +will; he was his own master, and beyond the pale of society. Just try +and realise the facts of this strange history for yourselves, my dears. +Here was the love of study absorbing every other thought, and making a +man throw up an honest position among his fellow-countrymen, in order +to store his mind with knowledge." + +"But it was not quite right," exclaimed Judith. "I think it was selfish +of him to take his poor wife and children away from their home, and +make them live in a cave." + +Captain Nance looked up and smiled at his little granddaughter. "You've +hit the right nail in that remark of yours, Judith," he said. "I agree +with you; there is something very selfish in Daniel Gumb's conduct. +Only picture his poor wife exposed to the storm and cold of winter, +with her young children, and only granite blocks to screen them. I +remember that when I was young I thought him quite a hero and martyr, +but not now. I've lived beyond that. He would have fulfilled God's +purpose in creating him, so far as I can judge, if he had conquered his +longing for study, because he had dear ones who depended on him for +support. He need not have given up all his learning, but he might have +carried it on as recreation. I think he must have had many sad thoughts +and many misgivings, when his children fell ill and had so few comforts +around them. What availed his problems, or his star-mapping then? Could +they furnish meat and drink for his sick and suffering little ones?" + +"Did any of his children die in the cave?" asked Dorothy. + +"Yes," replied the old man. "Some were born, and two died there. Don't +mistake my meaning, children, when I speak thus. I honour Daniel Gumb +in one sense; I condemn him in another." + +"You said something about Hurlers," remarked Dorothy, "I can't think +what they are, and yet I've a sort of remembrance you told us a story +about them. Please tell it again." + +"Dorothy, Dorothy, you're always after old traditions," said John +Trevan. "Certainly that which relates to the Hurlers is as strange as +any in our county. They are said to have been Cornish men who came out +one Sunday, and amused themselves by hurling balls about, and because +they broke God's day they were changed into pillars of stone." + +"That tradition teaches us a good lesson," replied Captain Nance. "We +all need to value our Sabbath privileges more than we do; but, alas, +how many people there are in our world who are not thankful for the +rest to the body and refreshment to the soul that the one day in seven +brings." + +"Very true," answered John Trevan, rising from his chair. "I must be +off now, for my spare time is gone. I've just a few more words to +say to Dorothy. You will not easily forget the sorrow you've brought +on yourself, and all of us to-day, my darling, by your naughtiness; +and now I am going to prove how entirely I forgive you, by taking my +little girl and her sister to St. Michael's Mount to-morrow, if the sun +shines. The day after to-morrow you can show you are in earnest about +wishing to do better, by being very attentive at school." + +"Oh, thank you, thank you, father, I will, indeed, I will try hard to +have my lesson right the first time." + +"Very well, I believe you. Now, children, you may come with me down to +the boat if you like." + +Dorothy and Judith gladly accompanied their father, and waited on the +shore until he rowed out to the "Mary Ann," which was anchored in the +bay. They left the sands then, and walked into New Street, where they +watched him until the sails were set, and he was some distance off. + +"Judith, how happy I am," said Dorothy, as they returned home; "I will +pray to be good if you will help me." + +"Yes, indeed I will, Dorothy," answered her sister, affectionately, +"we will help one another, for I want help from you just as much as +you want help from me; and we both need to be helped by our Father in +Heaven." + +Captain Nance had just lighted his pipe when his grandchildren entered +the room. + +"Grandfather," said Dorothy, "let us talk together; there is some time +before we go to bed." + +"What shall we talk about?" asked the old man. + +"Anything you like. Or will you tell us of something that happened when +you were a boy; or about any of your friends; or what is the very best +of all, a grand story of a shipwreck, that you saw?" + +"Then you can bear a sad one, for I'm not much inclined to make you +laugh this evening. It's curious that I've been thinking while you have +been away of that shipwreck which happened off the Brisons nine years +ago. You can't understand, now, my little girls, how an old man lives +in the past; young folks dream of the future, and build their castles; +old folks build no castles, but turn over and over again in their mind +the events which befell them long ago, perhaps in the prime of youth, +or it may be in early manhood. Yet I'm wrong when I say old folks build +no castles, for I dream of one; a beautiful and stately mansion which +hath a sure foundation, its builder and maker is God. I am not afraid +that it will crumble and decay, for— + + "'I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep +that which I have committed unto Him against that day.' + +"It's plain sailing, Dorothy, to that mansion. Yes, plain sailing so +far as God has revealed His will to us in His holy word, and by the +teaching of His Spirit. It's we who are to blame when we think we know +better than our Almighty Friend, Father, and King." + +Captain Nance continued to puff the smoke from his pipe, but he made +no further remark, and some minutes elapsed before Dorothy ventured to +say,— + +"Please, grandfather, tell us about the shipwreck." + +"Yes, that I will. I'm glad you brought me back again, for my thoughts +were far away. When I was captain, I steered as directly as I could to +the harbour I had to reach; and now I'm steering just as straight for +Heaven; that's my point, the harbour of refuge in the land of Canaan. +But I mustn't ramble from one thing to another, I'll try and keep to my +subject and tell you about the shipwreck:— + +"In the second week of January, 1851, business took me to your +great-uncle Thomas at Sennen. On the following day he accompanied me +to St. Just on the same business. Eleven years ago I could manage the +journey to the Land's End without much difficulty, but now, as you +know, I soon get weary, and when I bid farewell to my brother, I think +sailing orders will come for him or for me before we meet again. You +have seen Cape Cornwall from the Land's End, and know that it is only +one mile from St. Just. To the left of the Cape lie the Great and +Little Brisons, or Sisters: they are very dangerous rocks, some sixty +or seventy feet high. + +"It was on the morning of the 11th of January that brother Thomas and +I went to St. Just; it had been blowing a strong sou'wester all night, +and the waves dashed on to the shore mountains high. At daybreak a brig +from Liverpool, which was bound to the Spanish Main, struck upon a +reef of rocks between the Great and Little Brisons, and was dashed in +pieces. The crew, which consisted of nine men, and one woman, succeeded +in scrambling on to a ledge, where they would have probably been in +safety had the tide been going out; but it was coming in, and every +moment their position was more terrible. Ah! Children, we on land, +and clear of danger, talk about being prepared; but face to face with +eternity, words are tested, and we are proved as to whether our faith +be firmly anchored in Christ. + +"They stood huddled closely together, trembling and waiting, knowing +the tide came nearer every moment, and that the first strong wave would +cover them. It came only too soon, and ten living people were swept +into deep water. Seven sank to rise no more, and three were brought to +land. But how? First, I will tell you of the one whose life I had no +hand in preserving, and then pass on to the two whom I helped to save. +He was a mulatto, a dark skinned man, who was a good swimmer, and he +managed to grasp a part of the floating wreck on which he scrambled, +and by using a bit of canvas for a sail, and a plank as a paddle, kept +himself floating on the water until he was rescued by fishermen from +Sennen. + +"Brother Thomas and I reached it just when the excitement was at its +highest. The people were standing about in knots talking. We soon +learned the reason. + +"I at once said to my brother, 'I am off to the coast-guard station; it +is an old tar's proper place.' + +"By the aid of the glass I saw a man and woman, who turned out to be +the master mariner and his wife, standing on the Little Brison. They +had been washed on to this rock and managed to keep their footing, for +they had crawled high enough to be out of the reach of the waves. + +"'Can we save them?' 'Can a boat live in such a storm as this?' 'Who +will venture out?' 'It's madness to try!' were some of the remarks we +exchanged, as we stood with the crowd which gathered to watch the two +figures on the Little Brison. + +"We had just decided to man a boat, when we saw the 'Sylvia,' one of +Her Majesty's cutters, ploughing her way round the Land's End. At last +she lowered her boat, and made a desperate attempt to reach the husband +and wife. Again, and again, and yet again, the brave fellows tried to +near the Little Brison, but they failed, the sea was too tremendous for +their efforts to be successful. + +"Thus the afternoon closed, and as daylight faded, we saw the outline +of the two forms standing motionless—for so they appeared to us—on the +rock. It was a terrible picture. Brother Thomas had gone home. As soon +as he had transacted his business, he came to me to ask what I intended +to do. + +"'I cannot leave this spot,' I answered. + +"So I remained at the coast-guard station, for the men there were not +strangers to me, and even if they had been, we were drawn together by a +common sympathy. I should have been untrue to my sailor's colours had I +returned without trying to help these poor creatures. + +"'I am ready to go in the first boat that is sent off,' I said to the +superintendent. + +"I spent the hours of the night in prayer. I cried to my Lord to +interpose and save them. My heart went out in supplication on their +behalf. The Apostle Peter did not cry out more earnestly, 'Save, Lord, +or I perish,' than I did for the lives of those two strangers. + +"When daylight broke, I strained my eyes through the glass, and by +degrees recognised the two forms; but no longer standing upright. They +had cowered down, and but for an uplifted hand every now and then they +gave no signs of life. + +"'Help us to save them, Lord,' I cried, when I caught sight of them +first. 'We cannot stem the fierceness of the storm; we cannot make the +waves obey by saying, "Peace, be still!" but Thou canst be merciful to +us all, and come and save.' + +"The violence of the sea was gradually abating; and I thought it grew +even quieter after my prayer. Directly it was sufficiently light for +us to dare to venture, the superintendent of the station ordered a +boat to be manned, and carrying several rockets with him, he was rowed +out, accompanied by two other boats. I suppose you know that rockets +are used to throw a line, and that they are generally sent off from +the shore; but this was a peculiar case. I went in the second boat. +We could not get within a hundred yards of the Little Brison, and +from this point the first rocket was fired; it failed to reach the +rock-bound prisoners. A second was fired with the same result, but the +third brought the cord close to the man. + +"We watched him breathlessly as he tied the cord round the woman's +waist, but just as she plunged into the water, a terrific swell obliged +us to look to ourselves. The line was secure, and in a few minutes +the poor woman was drawn into the superintendent's boat. She still +breathed, though only for a little while. Whilst in the boat, her +spirit fled to another world. Yes, ere the second line was drawn in, +which guided her husband to the boat in which I was, her sailing orders +had come. + +"It was a dreadful moment for all of us; it has left a deep mark +behind. Come what will, that scene will never pass from my memory; but +it will ever stand out vividly. Even now, as I talk, my pulse almost +stands still, and I grow quite cold. + +"We reached the shore with the living and the dead. The poor man was +tended carefully, and gradually returned to consciousness and life; he +mourned deeply for his wife; they had not been separated since their +wedding day. She had borne the trials of a sailor's life, with her +husband, and he felt so lonely without his dear one at his side to +cheer him. For twenty years she had been his faithful partner." + +"Did she love Jesus, grandfather?" + +"Yes, Judith, she had served her Saviour from childhood; and what made +the tie so strong between the husband and wife was that he owed his +conversion, under God, to her. He told me that he was a scoffer when he +married, but that her example had taught him to pray. + +"The captain told us that as they stood in those terrible hours on the +rock, she encouraged and comforted him by repeating these words many +times: + + "'Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; +thou art Mine . . . I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour . . . Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been +honourable, and I have loved thee.' + +"'These promises stand as fast now as when they were written,' she +cried; 'He loves us as we stand here helpless and defenceless. Do not +let us forget that, but believe that though He appears to hold out no +hand to save, He does not leave us nor forsake us.' + +"It was astonishing, he said, to see the calm manner in which she +spoke. Both grew quiet and trustful at last, and seemed to hear a still +small voice speaking out of the storm, and saying, 'Peace, be still!' + +"I could have told him that I, too, had heard that voice when I was +passing through deep waters; but it wasn't the right time for me to +speak of my sorrows; it would have been selfish, children, to intrude +them on him when he was smarting so bitterly under his own heavy cross." + +Dorothy and Judith had listened to this story which was filled with so +much sadness several times before: their grandfather had not told it to +them so often as many others, for their mother was too pained to hear +it; it seemed in her own mind to be connected with Willy; he might have +been shipwrecked with no one near to save! But Mrs. Trevan had walked +to Penzance directly after her husband left home, and now returned with +a well-filled basket. + +"What is the matter?" she asked, noticing the serious faces of the +three. + +"It's nothing of consequence, Philippa," answered Captain Nance. "I've +been telling them something of the past, that's all, and I'm in a +serious mood to-night, so I've been speaking of sad things. Let us +forget them and hear what you've been doing; if I may judge from the +number of parcels in your basket, you have been spending your money +freely, and marketing for the week." + +"You are right, father," answered Mrs. Trevan. "Tea, sugar, pepper, +salt, and many other small articles were wanted. Come, children, and +help me to put them away in their proper places." + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT. + +EARLY next morning Dorothy and Judith were down on the sands awaiting +the arrival of their father. The boats were coming in fast, and before +long the "Mary Ann" anchored in the bay, and the crew rowed to land +with a large supply of mackerel. + +"I shall be ready to start for St. Michael's directly I've looked to +the nets," said John Trevan to his little girls. + +It is curious to see with what method the Newlyn fishermen put their +nets out to dry. They pile them upon one of their comrades' shoulders +until the wonder is he can walk at all under such a heavy load. The +burden being taken off with the same precision as it is put on, the +nets come off in perfect order and hang over the iron railing, or lie +along the sands and shingle. + +"Dorothy," said Judith, as they stood watching the process, "I'm glad +we live by the sea, and that father is a fisherman." + +"Why?" asked Dorothy. + +"Because I seem to feel the life that the Lord Jesus lived with his +disciples so real. We read in the New Testament so much about nets and +fishermen, and they did just the same in those days as now." + +"So they did. I never thought of that before." + +"I have many times. I like to picture to myself the Lord Jesus standing +on the shore, or sitting in a boat preaching; and how surprised Simon, +and Andrew, and James, and John must have been when they were called by +him and told they must be fishers of men. They were doing exactly what +father does; two were casting their nets into the sea, and two were +mending their nets." + +"I'm just ready, children," called John Trevan. "Run to the boat. I +shall follow you in a moment." + +St. Michael's is the principal feature of Mount's Bay. As seen from the +shore it appears like a lofty island rock rising up out of the sea, +with a large castle on its summit. When the tide is at its lowest, +the island is connected with the mainland by a causeway of rocks four +hundred yards long, by which means you reach the old town of Marazion; +the rest of the day it can only be approached by boat. + +It boasts great antiquity. Here it is said the Phoenicians came to buy +tin three thousand years ago, when it was inhabited by traders who +were glad to give this metal in exchange for salt, bronze vessels, +earthenware, and other commodities. In the beginning of the Christian +era, the dwellers on St. Michael's Mount are described by Roman +historians as being civilised people who traded largely with foreign +countries. In later times a Benedictine monastery was reared on the +Mount, and the fame of St. Michael the Archangel, who is described in +an old legend as appearing to some hermits upon one of its crags, drew +many pilgrims from all parts of Britain. Nuns, monks, and soldiers, +occupied the island at intervals until the seventeenth century, when +the monastery was turned into a castle, and Charles I. sojourned there +for a brief space to encourage the sturdy miners of Cornwall to aid him +in the fight against Cromwell. About the year 1660 the island was sold +to the St. Aubyns, and remains in the possession of that family to the +present day. + +[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT AND BAY.] + +The bay was calm enough to satisfy even Judith. There was not a cloud +to be seen in the blue sky, and the bright sunlight lit up the pretty +town of Penzance with its curving shore and background of hills, the +old town of Marazion, Cuddan Point, and far away to the Lizard. + +There is a little fishing village at the foot of the Mount, and thither +John Trevan was bound, for he was anxious to consult his friend Richard +Nelson about some matter connected with herring fishing, which begins +after the mackerel season is over. He pulled straight to the stone +steps in the harbour, and saw to his satisfaction that the very man he +wanted was standing on the pier talking to a comrade. + +After the bustle of landing was over, and the first greetings had been +exchanged, Mr. Trevan asked: "Is Dick at home? My girls want a run with +him over the Mount." + +"He is here to answer for himself," said his father as a handsome boy +of fifteen joined them, and shook hands warmly with Dorothy and Judith, +who were old friends of his. + +"How jolly to see you," he exclaimed. "You couldn't have come a better +day. I'm going to be at home." + +"Take the lassies to your mother," said Mr. Nelson, "and ask her to +have some dinner ready for us at one o'clock." + +The village at the base of St. Michael's Mount is surrounded on +the land side by a wall of granite; a gate at one end admits its +inhabitants and visitors to the Mount. The fishermen lay their nets out +to dry on, the sloping turf just without the wall, and a little farther +up is the well which supplies the villagers with fresh water. Most of +the cottages look over the bay, but a few face the Mount, and it was +to one of these Dick led the way. He stopped at a pretty little house, +with a tiny garden at its side, and a fine old myrtle tree climbing up +its walls and peeping into the gabled windows. A good-looking woman +was standing outside-washing clothes in a large tub. She was delighted +to see the little girls, and dried her hands hastily before she kissed +them. + +"How did you come, my dears?" she asked. + +"Father brought us," said Dorothy. "He wanted to see Mr. Nelson, and +gave us the treat." + +"You must stay and have some dinner," said Mrs. Nelson. + +"Yes, mother, they're going to stay," replied Dick. "Father says he'll +be in at one. We're going up the Mount now." + +"That suits me exactly, for in a couple of hours I shall have cleared +up and be quite ready for you." + + +The ascent to the old castle is an easy one. The rock on which it is +built is about two hundred feet high, and on the east and west sides of +the cliff terminates abruptly, and the shore can only be reached by a +flight of steps cut in the stone. + +"Can we go inside the castle to-day?" asked Dorothy. "We've never seen +the rooms, though we've been up here so many times. Mother said we +might go in, if you can manage for us; she's given me some money for +the housekeeper." + +"All right," answered Dick. + +They mounted the stone steps and rang the bell, which was answered by +a respectable woman who permitted them to enter, and pointed out the +various objects of interest. + +The hall, which was the refectory of the monks, and the Benedictine +chapel, claims the most notice; but that which had the greatest charm +for the children, was a vault discovered some years ago when the chapel +was undergoing repairs, in which the bones of a full-grown man were +discovered. It is supposed that he was bricked up there and left to +die. Dick and Dorothy entered the vault, but Judith was too timid to +accompany them. Dorothy would also have liked to go to the top of the +church tower and sit in what is popularly called St. Michael's chair, +but the wind was so high the housekeeper would not permit it. + +"There's plenty of time before you," she said good-humouredly to +Dorothy. "You may have another ten years on your shoulders before you +need climb to St. Michael's chair; it's not for such as you, but young +brides, or old ones for that matter, who are disappointed if they don't +sit in the chair before their husbands." + +"But why?" asked Judith. + +"You surely know," said Dick. "Every one in Cornwall has heard of St. +Michael's chair." + +"Indeed, we never have," replied Dorothy; "do tell us about it. I only +know that St. Michael's chair is in the church tower, but not why it is +called so." + +"Because the wife is said to be the master if she sits in the chair +before her husband; so you see, my dear, you may wait many years before +you need to mount into the tower," said the housekeeper. + +"I learnt the story about St. Michael's chair at school in a piece of +poetry," said Dick. "I can't think how it is you've never heard of it. +It begins like this:— + + "'Merrily, merrily rung the bells, + The bells of St. Michael's tower, + When Richard Penlake, and Rebecca his wife, + Arrived at St. Michael's door. + + "'Up to the tower Rebecca ran, + Round, and round, and round; + 'Twas a giddy sight to stand a-top, + And look upon the ground.'" + +"And did she sit in the chair?" asked Judith. + +"Yes, but the bells rang so loudly, that the chair rocked, and out she +fell." + +"Is it a real chair?" questioned Dorothy. + +"No, my dear; only a stone, and by no means a comfortable one to sit +on; and why it is supposed to be endowed with such gifts it is hard to +say," replied the housekeeper. + +The young people thanked her for her kindness, as they left the castle. +They rambled about for some time and gathered flowers, then they +watched the rabbits skipping and running hither and thither among the +furze. At last Dick suggested that they should go down the steps to a +sheltered place, where they could sit and talk. + +"Yes, do," said Dorothy; "for we want to hear from you the story of +'Jack the Giant-killer.'" + +"Who told you that I knew it?" + +"Father. Now begin at once, Dick." + +"I will directly we've found a comfortable rock. I think I'd better +take you to my summer-house." + +They had to scramble over many, large boulders, until they reached one +which was sheltered by a higher rock behind it; this Dick called his +summer-house. It was close to the shore, and a warm snug place to sit +in. + +"Before I begin my story I must ask you one question, and I wish Judith +to answer it," said Dick. "Do you believe that Jack the Giant-killer +was a real man?" + +"No, of course, not," she answered. "It's only one of the old Cornish +tales with no truth in it." + +[Illustration: KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE ON THE COAST OF CORNWALL.] + +"Very well, as that's settled, I'm ready to tell you all I know +about him. Many years ago a giant inhabited the Mount, who was named +Cormoran. He was eighteen feet high, three yards round, and a very +fierce-looking fellow. He lived quite alone, and allowed no one to +come near him. When he felt hungry, he waded through the water on to +the shore, and went to one of the villages to steal cattle. He was so +strong that he could carry six cows on his back at once, and a large +sheep between his finger and thumb. Of course, all the people round +very much disliked this giant, and felt it was hard to lose their +cattle; but yet they were too much frightened of him to venture to show +fight when he appeared. + +"Near to the Land's End lived a rich farmer, who had one son, called +Jack, and he determined to win a name for himself by getting rid of +Cormoran. He thought for many days and weeks before he could make up +his mind what to do, and in that time he tried his hand on Thunderbore, +a huge fellow, with flaming eyes and long hair, that hung over his +shoulders like curled snakes. He succeeded in killing this giant, who +lived very near to his father's farm, though the books don't say how he +managed it, but perhaps in the same way that he killed Cormoran. + +"At any rate, soon after the death of Thunderbore, Master Jack +determined to dig a pit on the spot where the giant always set his foot +when he landed. He covered it with a stone, which he poised so cleverly +that it only required a little touch to make it fall into the deep +hole. The plan succeeded perfectly. Cormoran came out of his cave one +day to seek for provisions. He waded through the sea, and set his foot +on the stone: it gave way, and he fell in, and was so hurt that he lay +moaning until he died. Of course Jack became a great man, and he killed +a good many more Cornish giants. So ends my story. Now, Judith, tell me +what you have been thinking about, for you've been looking a deal too +grave." + +"Just this, Dick," answered the little girl. "You know the Bible +contains a story about a giant, and a boy who killed him, and I thought +how grand it was compared to yours; and it's all true, too, every word +of it." + +"Tell it to me, and then I'll give you my opinion," said Dick. + +Judith hesitated for a moment, and whispered to her sister. + +"Oh, yes, do," answered Dorothy aloud. "Dick," she added, "Judith wrote +a history of David and Goliath for teacher, only last Sunday, and she's +got it with her." + +[Illustration: JUDITH READS HER STORY OF THE GIANT.] + +"That's capital; let me hear it." + +"It isn't quite all my own," said truthful Judith; "teacher altered one +or two things—not many. I wasn't allowed to look at my Bible after I +began to write, but I read the history over a great many times so that +I might remember it." + +"And she had a prize because it was done the best in the class," +exclaimed Dorothy. + +"That's first-rate," cried Dick. "Don't lose any time, Judith." + +The little girl took a roll of paper out of her pocket, and read thus: + +"In the days of King Saul, the Israelites fought against the +Philistines, and both armies drew up ready for battle one day. The +Philistines had a great giant on their side, called Goliath of Gath, +who was about eleven feet high, and wore a helmet of brass on his head. +He was armed with a coat of mail; the staff of his spear was like a +weaver's beam; and he had a man going before him to carry his shield. + +"He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said, 'Why are ye come +out to set your battle in array. Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants +of Israel? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he +be able to fight with me, then we will be your servants; but if I kill +him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. I defy the armies of +Israel this day.' + +"King Saul and all Israel were frightened when they heard these words, +for they had no one who dare meet this giant in single combat. For +forty days he came and presented himself before them, and they grew +more and more afraid. + +"In Bethlehem Judah there lived a man named Jesse, who had eight sons. +The three eldest followed King Saul to battle, and the youngest fed his +father's sheep. He was called David, and had a beautiful countenance; +and God loved him, and was with him. One morning his father sent him +to the camp with some corn for his brethren, and ten cheeses for the +captain of their thousand. + +"David found the two armies drawn up ready for battle, so he ran into +the midst of the Israelites and talked to his brothers. While he was +hearing how they fared, the great giant came out and spoke the same +words, which frightened the men of Israel so much that they fled away +from him. + +"David saw all this, and asked the men who stood near him, what should +be done to the one who killed the Philistine, and took away the +reproach from Israel? + +"'The king will make him very rich,' they replied, 'and give him his +daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.' + +"When Eliab, David's eldest brother, heard him ask this question he was +very angry, and said, 'Why didst thou come here? who has charge of thy +sheep? Thou hast only come to see the battle.' + +"But David answered, 'There is a reason for my coming.' So he turned +from his brother and asked another, 'Who is this Philistine, that he +should defy the armies of the living God?' Again he received the same +answer; and the people went and told Saul his words. + +"The king sent immediately for David. The young man entered into his +presence, and said boldly, 'Let no man's heart fail because of this +giant; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.' + +"To this the king answered, 'Thou art not able to fight with him, for +thou art a youth.' + +"Then David told Saul that a lion and bear had come one day and taken +away a lamb out of his flock, and that he went after them, and slew +them. And he said that he was not afraid of the great giant, who had +defied the armies of the living God, for the Lord would deliver him +into his hand. + +"When Saul heard these words, he answered, 'Go, and the Lord be with +thee.' The king clothed David in armour, but the latter said, 'I cannot +go with these, for I have not proved them.' So he put them off, and +took his staff in his hand, and went to the brook, where he chose five +smooth stones, which he put into his shepherd's bag; and with his sling +in his hand, he drew near the Philistine. + +"As soon as Goliath looked on David, he scorned him, and asked, 'Am I a +dog, that thou comest to me with stones? I will give thy flesh to the +fowls of the air and the beast of the field.' + +"David answered, Thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and a +shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God +of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day the Lord will +deliver thee into my hand, and all the earth will know there is a God +in Israel.' So Goliath came nearer, and David ran to meet him, and put +his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and smote the +Philistine in his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth." + +"Well done, Judith," said Dick. "I declare I couldn't do it so well, +and I am two years older than you are." + +"Which story do you like best, yours or mine?" asked Judith. + +"Why, yours to be sure, because I know it's true. Besides, just think +of the beautiful way in which it's written in the Bible. I never get +tired of reading about David, and often envy him." + +[Illustration] + +"Now let's settle why we should like to be David," said Dorothy. +"Supposing you say first, Dick, as you are the oldest." + +"Because," answered the boy, thinking for a moment, "because I should +like to have been the one to kill the giant, when the whole army was +afraid of him." + +"And I," said Dorothy, "because I should like to have been as much +thought of as David was, and get into the king's favour." + +"And I," said Judith, speaking in a low voice, "because God was with +him, and helped him to kill the giant." + +"You've hit on the right reason, Judith," exclaimed Dick. "You always +were good. I don't believe you've half the temptations to be naughty +that Dorothy and I have." + +"Oh! Don't say that. Nobody knows exactly what the other is like," +replied Judith. + +"That's true," answered Dick. "Still I can't help thinking you are very +good, Judith. Now let us go back; I have to fetch mother some water +before dinner." + + +John Trevan and his daughters returned to Newlyn early in the +afternoon, for the former was too busy to be longer absent. The sea was +a good deal rougher than when they were going, but not enough to make +Judith nervous. She and Dorothy chattered to their father all the way +home. They told him of their morning's conversation. + +He agreed with Judith that a fisherman's life often reminded him of the +Lord Jesus and His disciples. + +"I think," he said, "that the time when the Master stood by the lake +of Gennesaret, and the people pressed upon Him to hear, so that He was +obliged to enter into a boat, is my favourite scene. If you remember, +our Lord commanded Simon to thrust out a little from the land, and sat +down and taught the people in the ship. And after He had done speaking, +He ordered Simon to launch out into the deep, and let down his nets; +and the disciples answered,— + + "'Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing: +nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.' + +"And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude, and +the net broke. How often I have pictured this to myself when we have +been hauling in a great draught, or have toiled for hours and caught +nothing." + +Just as John Trevan finished speaking they came near enough to the +shore for the rope to be thrown out. It was caught by one of the crew +belonging to the "Mary Ann." + +"We want your opinion, captain," he said. + +"I'm here," answered John. "Go home, children, and do not wait for me." + +Dorothy and Judith were soon sitting at their grandfather's side, +giving him and their mother a full account of the day's proceedings. +Among other things they spoke of St. Michael's chair, and said they +wondered they had never heard it was so famous. + +"Just as well not, little ones," said Captain Nance. "We've no +bickering for mastery here. Your father and mother have each their own +place to fill, and they seek help from One who is able to uphold their +footsteps, and teach them how to govern themselves. That's the secret +of true happiness in married life: After all, St. Michael's chair +and the charm it is said to possess, is only one of the old Cornish +traditions." + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WILLY'S BIRTHDAY. + +DOROTHY won golden opinions from her parents and teacher next day. Her +lessons were so well said, and her sums so correctly done, that Miss +White sent a message home by Judith, expressing how satisfied she was +with her pupil. + +"You're very happy to-day, Dorothy," said her father; "I can see it in +all your movement, and your face is beaming." + +"Yes, father, I am very happy. I tried hard not to be idle this +morning. I was just a tiny bit sorry that I had to go to school, but I +asked God to help me to act properly, and Judith was so kind; and now +I'm so glad to think that Miss White is satisfied to-day." + +"You can't have a better helper than your Heavenly Father," said +Captain Nance. "He'll bring you to the port at last. Don't forget what +I told you about His being our guide. I've borne the battles and the +breezes of life long enough to know where to find safe anchorage." + +Dorothy not only merited her teacher's praise on that day, but on other +days that followed. She tried to conquer herself, and succeeded as she +had never done before, because she endeavoured to think of these words +at all times,— + + "Thou God seest me." + +She told Judith she meant that verse to be her birthday text. + +"And it shall be mine too," answered her sister. + + +The month of April wore away, and May set in. The hedges round Newlyn +grew greener every day; the trees came out in full leaf, the ferns +waved in wild luxuriance, and the banks were blue with hyacinths. + +The mackerel season ends in the middle of May, and the fishermen employ +the weeks that intervene before the pilchard season commences, by +fishing for herrings off the coast of Ireland. + +The "Mary Ann" left Newlyn late one afternoon in the third week of May. + +"I shall think of you on Willy's birthday," John said to his wife, just +before starting; "you'll bear up for my sake, Philippa?" + +"I will try to," she answered; "but I must remember my boy as of +old. Nine years, John, on the 8th of next month, since he left us. I +think of him as a boy still, but if he's living he's a young man of +twenty-four. How happy he would have made us had he turned out well; he +would have helped you in so many ways." + +"So he would, wife, and God only knows how gladly I should welcome him +home. I'm always changing my opinion about him; sometimes I doubt much +if we ever see him again in this world, and then again I feel sure he +will return. God grant that we shall meet him in heaven, if we never +see him here." + +"Father is the only one who seems clear about his being alive, and +coming home; and I find myself dwelling on the old man's words." + +"Try not to, Philippa, it makes the uncertainty harder to bear. Leave +the matter in the Lord's hands; and now let us join grandfather and the +children." + +When all was in readiness for departure, John bade adieu to his wife +and daughters, who, with Captain Nance, accompanied him to the harbour. +He shook hands with his father-in-law, and said, "God bless and keep +you." + +"Good-bye, my son," answered the veteran; "if my sailing orders come +before you return, don't grieve for me; remember I shall have won the +prize, and my poor weather-beaten bark will be safely landed." + +The "Mary Ann" was not the only fishing vessel starting from Newlyn +that night. There were five others. Herring fishing has been a source +of great profit since the year 1826, when two boats left in the month +of May for the coast of Ireland. Their success was so great that others +followed, and since then a good trade has been carried on, and the +income of the fishermen greatly increased thereby. + +It was a glorious afternoon for starting; the wind was so brisk that +the "Mary Ann" was soon out of sight. + +"Now, children, come home," said Mrs. Trevan; "see how hard you can +work at school for the next six weeks, and then work of another kind +begins." + +"Yes, mother, pilchards for ever!" cried Dorothy. "How I like the fun." + +"Fun you call it; hard work I say," replied Mrs. Trevan. "What say you, +Judith?" + +"I think like Dorothy, mother, it's good fun; but then we don't do so +much as you do." + +"This year you must put your shoulders to the wheel," said +Captain Nance; "when girls enter their teens, they enter on new +responsibilities." + +"Do you mean to work very hard, grandfather?" asked Judith. + +"I shall try how my old bark will bear the strain. The bolts are +dropping out fast, child, but so long as the planks hold together I +shall work." + +Judith did not answer her grandfather; she only pressed the hand she +held to show she understood the meaning of his words. + + +The days rolled on rapidly until Willy's birthday dawned, and Philippa, +as was her custom, went out early in the morning to pray. + +"Dorothy, wake up," said Judith, "I hear mother stirring, and this is +Willy's birthday. I've just thought that as we've turned thirteen we +are old enough to comfort her. Let's go up Paul Hill and tell her we +should like to pray with her for Willy." + +"Do you think mother will like it?" questioned Dorothy. + +"I'm sure she will. She'll feel that we think of her in her sorrow." + +Mrs. Trevan sat alone on Paul Hill. It was still very early in the +morning, and no sound disturbed the stillness, save the twittering of +the birds. Her eyes wandered far, far away. + +"Will he ever come?" she said aloud. + +And then the question merged itself into thoughts of her first-born, +her darling, the boy who had loved her in spite of his naughtiness; +but who had loved his own will and his own ways so much better that he +could descend so low as to steal from his mother, and leave the home +without a parting word. Was he in want? And would the want make him +bethink himself of the fisherman's cottage, and the love and tenderness +which had gathered round him there; and would he remember his early +training and the God against whom he had sinned, but who would show +mercy, and was ready to welcome him back to His heart; who had a robe +waiting for him with which He would replace the rags; who had a ring in +token of owning His son once more in the family; who had shoes to cover +his feet that were sore, and ached from walking over dusty roads and +sharp stones? Did Willy feel, did he know that there would be joy in +heaven if he would arise and come to his Father? + +At last she buried her head in her hands and prayed for strength to +have faith in God, and to believe that a wise and loving Father was +busy about her life, and knew all about her heart-sickness, and did not +forsake her. She felt a quiet calm stealing over her as she repeated +these words aloud,— + + "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through +the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the +fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon +thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." + +Her face was still hidden, when a gentle touch on either shoulder made +her look up, to find her daughters at her side. + +"Mother, forgive us, and don't be vexed because we've come," said +Dorothy; "but we think we're old enough to help you to bear your +sorrow." + +Philippa's eyes glistened through her tears. "My darlings!" was all +that she could answer. + +They sat down, one on each side of her, and talked about their brother +for some time. Then the conversation grew more personal; and Dorothy +and Judith spoke of the longing they had to live holy lives, and how +often they failed in little things; and how they daily read God's book +together, and tried to realise the time when Jesus spoke to publicans +and sinners, and walked and lived on earth. + +Mrs. Trevan was beguiled by these loving confidences, and was filled +with thankfulness to God that even her Dorothy, whose quick temper and +hasty words had so often troubled her, seemed so earnest in pursuit of +the things which make for our everlasting welfare. + +"Now mother, dear, let us go for a little walk," said Dorothy. "Come +with us to Paul Church, it will do you good." + +"Not now, we must return to grandfather; but I promise you that we will +have an early tea this afternoon, and walk over the hill later." + +"That will be delightful," said Judith. "And if we can only get +grandfather to come too, we shall enjoy it all the more." + +Captain Nance was quite ready to walk to Paul Church after tea. The +ascent was rather trying to the old man, but he enjoyed the scene +nevertheless. Mrs. Trevan lingered for a few moments on the spot where +her daughters had surprised her in the morning, and her face grew +anxious; but again her children interfered, they would have her admire +the furze which was out in full blossom. The air was redolent with its +sweetness; it grew in the hedges, on waste patches of land, about the +shaft of a mine long since abandoned, at the edge of the cliff; by the +road side, in fact, in all directions the eye fell on bright masses of +yellow. + +Every step up Paul Hill revealed a broader expanse of sea, and gave +them a wider view of Mount's Bay. When they reached the top, Captain +Nance sat down. + +"This mounting makes my old engine puff a little," he said. "Give me a +few minutes' rest, and I shall be ready to march again." + +Newlyn and Mousehole, a little fishing village beyond, form part of +the parish of Paul. Its church is celebrated for its old granite tower +which bears the date of 821. It is all that remains of the edifice, +which was burned by the Spaniards in 1585. They landed at Mousehole +and came over the hill to Paul. It is said they met some women laden +with wood and furze, and compelled them to deposit their bundles in the +porch of the church, and by setting fire to it and opening the doors +they created such a draught of air that the building was soon in flames. + +In the churchyard lie the remains of Dolly Pentreath, who died in +December, 1777, at the age of one hundred and two. She was the last +person who could converse in the Cornish language, which was very much +like the Welsh. The people of Cornwall had their own dialect once, and +up to the reign of Henry VIII., many men and women could not understand +a word of English. + +Dolly was the daughter of a fisherman who lived at Mousehole. At twelve +years old she used to go to Penzance to sell fish, speaking the Cornish +language, which many of the inhabitants could not even then understand. +She was twenty years old before she learned English. Towards the close +of her life she was very poor, and lived by begging, fortune-telling, +and gabbling Cornish. + +The Spaniards and Dolly Pentreath formed the topics of conversation +between Captain Nance and his grandchildren. + +Mrs. Trevan said but little, she occupied herself with her knitting and +her thoughts. She was roused from her reverie by hearing her father +trying to teach Dorothy and Judith the few words of Cornish he knew. + +"Dew gena why," said Dorothy. + +"Dew gena why," repeated Judith. + +"Now how long will you remember that these words mean in Cornish what +we understand when we say 'good-bye'?" asked their grandfather. + +"I'm sure I shall forget them by to-morrow. What do you think, mother?" +asked Dorothy. + +"That you ought to have a better memory." + +"I'll make a promise to one, or both of you," said Captain Nance, "If +you say 'Dew gena why' to me before you go to school to-morrow, you +shall have the best bun to be bought at the pastry cook's in Penzance." + +"You will have to spend your money, father," replied Mrs. Trevan. "I +see by the bright faces before me that both Dorothy and Judith mean to +earn a bun." + +Mrs. Trevan was right. The next evening Captain Nance and his +grandchildren walked from Newlyn through the lanes to Penzance, which +is about a mile distant, and when they returned about an hour later, +each of the little girls had a paper bag which contained a large bun, +and Captain Nance was out of pocket by the transaction. + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +MIDSUMMER EVE. + +JOHN TREVAN returned on the 22nd of June, and found his dear ones well +and happy. He had had a successful cruise and was some pounds richer +than when he started. + +Dorothy and Judith were watching anxiously for their father, because +when he was at home, they joined in the gala doings on the Eve of St. +John, and went to the fair on Midsummer day. It sometimes happened that +Mr. Trevan was later in returning, but this year he was just in time, +to the children's great delight. + +One of the old customs that yet remain in Cornwall is the annual +celebration of the Eve of St. John. It is thought to be a remnant of +idolatry, and to have been introduced into Britain by the Phœnician +traders who worshipped the sun; be this true or not, it is certain that +the summer solstice has been celebrated for a long period of time by +the lighting of fires. + +When it grows dusk, tar barrels and bonfires blaze in every direction, +at Penzance, Marazion, St. Michael's Mount, Newlyn, and Mousehole: the +whole of Mount's Bay is thus illuminated. The young men and maidens +resort to Penzance in the evening from the country, carrying torches, +which they swing about in all directions: fireworks are let off, and +the revels conclude by the lads and lassies forming themselves into a +line and running through the street calling out "an eye, an eye!" And +thus play the game generally known as "thread the needle." + +Mrs. Trevan was rather nervous about her children going into the midst +of the confusion, but her husband overruled her fears, and started to +Penzance with his daughters on St. John's Eve. + +Captain Nance grew young again when he saw the fires blazing: he +fancied he was a boy running hither and thither with his torch, and +leading the line of young people through the streets of Penzance. +He watched them burn out and then he returned to his arm-chair and +netting, and finally fell asleep. + +"We've never enjoyed ourselves so much before," said Dorothy, opening +the door at eleven o'clock, and thus rousing her grandfather. "The game +isn't over yet, but father thought we'd better come home." + +"I think so too," answered Mrs. Trevan, who was busy with her +needlework. "But how tired you look, John," she added. + +"No wonder," he replied, laughing. "Your daughters run so fast, and I +had to keep up with them lest I should miss them in the crowd." + +"You run quite as fast as we do, father," said Judith. + +"Perhaps I do, and once I could run faster, but it makes my legs ache. +I've been chasing you through the streets of Penzance for one hour, and +am almost stunned with hearing 'an eye, an eye!' shouted on every side +of me. But I am really proud of our young people, for with all their +enjoyment there is no rudeness nor rough behaviour." + +"That speaks well for them," remarked Captain Nance. "It was just the +same in my day, and we rarely heard of an accident happening." + +"Now, children, be off to bed," said Mrs. Trevan. "Are you going +holiday-making with them to-morrow?" she asked her husband. + +"We shall see," he replied. "At any rate, I am not going out fishing. +I've an idea, wife," he said, when his little daughters had left the +room. "I've come back richer than I've ever been before, and I'm +inclined to hire a cart to-morrow and drive you all to the Logan Rock. +The children have long wished to see it. What say you, father?" + +"That I shall be delighted to go," said the old man; "it's many years +since I was there, and it's one of the grandest sights in all our +county. I should like to know where you can find sixty-five tons of +granite to rock like a child's cradle. I ought, perhaps, to say that it +used to rock like a child's cradle, for since it was tumbled over and +set up again, it doesn't move so well as it did." + +"Then it's settled that we go," replied John. "We've none of us been to +the rock for many a day, and I'm sure we shall all enjoy seeing it." + +"Indeed I shall," answered Mrs. Trevan, "and what's more, and best of +all, is the outing with you, and the children, and father." + +"I never thought to see the rocking stone again," said Captain Nance. +"How wonderful it is that I have lived to my great age, after having +such a rough life of it." + +"God knows what is best for us all, father, and it's been a great joy +to have you here," replied Philippa, "and I like to think of you as +ready to live if He wills, but not afraid to die if He wills." + +"Afraid, my child! No, thank God, I'm not afraid," answered Captain +Nance, emphatically. "Who dare be afraid with a loving Father at +the helm! I'm only waiting for my sailing orders. I'm ready to say +to-night, or to-morrow, or this moment,— + + "'Farewell, poor world, I must be gone, + Thou art no home nor rest for me, + I'll take my staff and travel on, + Till I a better world may see.' + +"Good night, my son and daughter." + + +The far-famed Logan Rock is situated on a magnificent headland of +granite. It is approached through a narrow pass, on reaching the top of +which the last rampart of rocks is seen, on which the stone is poised. + +The road from Newlyn to Treryn, the nearest village to the Logan Rock, +is a good one, and for some distance the same as to the Land's End. The +cart was left at the village inn, which takes its name from the stone; +and a walk of a mile through the fields brought the party to the shore. + +"There is some climbing for us to do," said Captain Nance. "I think I +shall want your help, John; that is, if Philippa and the children can +take care of themselves." + +"I can take care of myself, grandfather," answered Dorothy, "and Judith +can go with mother. Did you see how well I got over the hedges alone?" + +In spite of Dorothy's boastful way of speaking, she fell and grazed her +arm; but not severely, only enough to make her more careful, and to +remind her that it was better to act quietly than to talk grandly. + +At length the summit of the pass was reached, and then the grandeur of +the scene burst upon them: they sat on a slab of granite, and looked on +to the rampart of rocks where the famous Logan Stone rests. + +An old man approached them and touched his hat. "Would you like to see +the stone move?" he asked. + +"Yes; after we've rested a little, you shall take us right up to it, +and we'll see if we can make it rock," replied Mr. Trevan. + +"It 'll never rock again properly, sir; it used to rock easily enough, +but since it was tumbled over eight and thirty years ago, it's never +gone as well since. I could move it then with one arm, but now I have +to push with my shoulders against it. That stone rolling over was a +sight not to be forgotten in a man's life." + +"Did you see it go?" asked Dorothy. + +[Illustration THE LOGAN ROCK.] + +"Yea, little miss; I was one of the two Cornish men here when the +lieutenant came who did it. He was a nice young man, with all his +faults, and uncommonly sorry when he found how grieved and angry he had +made everybody about here. His name was Goldsmith, and he commanded +a revenue cutter which was stationed off our coast. He'd heard that +it was said in Cornwall no one could upset the Logan Stone, though it +rocked so well. + +"He'd nothing better to do, so he came over here with some of his +picked men, armed with levers. He ordered them to be put under the +stone, gave the word of command, and over it rolled. Fortunately it +was saved from falling into the water, or on to the ground, because it +stuck in yon crevice between the rocks, just below the slab from which +it was started. My friend and I were struck dumb, and enough to make +us, to see the beautiful stone, which weighs nigh upon seventy tons, +which all the world flocks to see, and which some say was put here by +the Druids, thrown over for idle sport. + +"When we came to ourselves, we made for the Lord of the Manor, and told +him what we'd seen. I assure you that day there was quite a panic among +the people of Treryn; it was just as if a plague had broken out, or +something awful had happened; and no wonder, for we've little enough to +depend upon, and to have the bread taken out of our mouths was indeed +hard, for who'd come to see the Logan Stone sticking between two rocks. +The matter wasn't let alone. Lieutenant Goldsmith was reported to the +Admiralty; and they ordered him to put back the stone, and said they'd +lend him all that he wanted for the purpose from Plymouth Dockyard. The +week of work that followed before it was done will ever be remembered +by those who had a hand in it, and even the women and children looked +on. Strong planks were fixed about the Logan Stone, chains were +fastened round it, pulleys were rigged, and capstans were manned. At +last it moved a little, then it began to swing about in the air, then +it was heaved up, and by degrees dropped down where you see it; and +then we all fell on our knees and thanked God." + +"What became of the lieutenant?" asked Judith. + +"As soon as the people saw that the old stone was back, their curses +turned into blessings; but, poor young man, it was a lifelong sorrow +for him. Putting it back cost him a lot of money, and he was only clear +of all his debts just before he died. And now follow me, and I'll make +it move." + +The stone moved at the old man's push, but Mr. Trevan found that though +he put forth all his strength, he produced no perceptible motion. Truly +the days of rocking for the Logan Stone are well-nigh gone, but the +wild beauty of its surroundings remains untouched, and fills the mind +with awe and wonder. + +"Which do you like best, the Land's End or the Logan Rock, Judith?" +asked her grandfather that evening. + +"The Logan Rock," she replied; "it's far, far grander." + +"Yes, dear; I agree with you. I felt it so grand, I was quite inclined +to sit down and cry like a child. The waves were beating up wildly, and +all around me spoke of a great God. I've never been so touched before; +I can't think why it was; for an old tar should have a strong heart and +a steady hand." + +"I love you all the more for having a soft heart, grandfather. I dare +say you were filled with wonder and thankfulness that the God who made +the beautiful rocks was a loving Father, and cared for you above all +the great things He has made." + +"No, that's not it, exactly, little one. I fancy I know why I felt so +sad. You'll know, too, if you live to be old. I sometimes ache for +my clearance to come, and long to get my sailing orders; and when +I witness such beautiful sights as I saw to-day, I want to take my +departure to the land beyond Jordan." + +"Do you think Heaven will be very beautiful, grandfather?" asked +Dorothy. + +"Yes, child; it must be more beautiful than anything that we can +imagine. I try to picture to myself what the beloved disciple saw; +but oh, children, I can't, and so the old tar will wait on patiently, +knowing that— + + "'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart +of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.'" + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PILCHARD FISHING. + +ADJOINING John Trevan's house was a building we have not yet noticed. +It is called a pilchard cellar. Before we describe it, we must explain +what a pilchard is like, and why it should need a cellar. + +Pilchards are a little smaller than herrings, closely resembling them +in size. They are not found swimming about alone, or even in dozens; +they rather choose the companionship of hundreds, thousands, and +millions of their kind. + +In winter they live in the deep sea, but when spring comes they desire +change, so they rise nearer to the surface of the water, and form +themselves into small shoals; the small shoals grow into larger ones, +and at last, the large ones unite into one mighty host, led by the +pilchard king. This army comes on past the Scilly Isles about the end +of July, and for the next four months, the Cornish fishermen, their +wives and children, are principally employed in catching, curing, and +packing pilchards. + +They are not kept for home consumption, but are salted, put into +barrels, and sent to the Mediterranean; Italy and Spain affording the +best market for them. + +John Trevan rented a pilchard cellar. It was a square building, open +in the middle, with a sloping roof round the four sides, which was +supported by pillars of rough granite. It had gutters into which the +oil ran from the fish when they lay in salt, and from the gutters, by +reason of the inclined floor, into a pit or tank made to receive it. + +Mr. and Mrs. Trevan were busily engaged in this cellar one morning +towards the end of July. They were clearing away things that had +accumulated during the winter, such as washing tubs, clothes lines, +fire-wood, and old fish baskets, for the first boats from Newlyn were +about to set sail that afternoon in quest of pilchards. They were +likely to go some distance out to sea, as the shoals do not come inland +until the month of August, when they are probably driven there by +hunger. + +Pilchards are caught near to the shore in a different manner from that +which is employed in the open sea. + +As they approach the land, they are enclosed in the seine, a large +net which encircles the whole shoal. In this case it is the merchant +who engages the fishermen to work for him at weekly wages. Huers, or +look-out men, stand on the cliffs when the sea birds gather in great +numbers, and watch for a red tinge on the water, which shows that a +shoal is approaching. When the huer ascertains for certain that he is +not deceived, he shouts, "Heva, heva"—found, found—and this is the +signal for the boats to put off and secure the prize. He is furnished +with a large bush of furze, which he waves to the right or left to +indicate the direction they are to take, and where to cast the seine. + +The fishermen who work for themselves use the drift-net, and their +own boat is sufficient, while seine-fishing requires three boats; +for enclosing the shoal of pilchards is only the first step towards +securing it. + +Dorothy and Judith were all excitement, and lessons were abandoned +in the more engrossing occupation of helping to salt pilchards. They +assisted their mother and grandfather to join the nets together into +one. Each member of the crew which owned the "Mary Ann" had the same +done at home, and at last all were joined again; thus an enormous net +nearly three quarters of a mile in length was formed. + +The "Mary Ann" was supplied with provisions, for she might have to +spend two nights at sea. She left Newlyn about five o'clock; the glass +was high, the sea calm, and the moon at its full. + +"Look sharp for the birds," said John Trevan, when the boat was some +miles out at sea; for gulls and other wild fowl pursue a shoal of +pilchards, as well as hordes of dogfish, hake, and cod. + +On and on they sailed, until the boat was about ten miles distant from +the Scilly Isles; then John Trevan gave the word of command to lower +the net. It was let down gently into the sea, and formed a wall more +than twenty feet deep. The sails were then taken down, and boat and net +allowed to drift with the tide. + +"'Tis almost too bright a night for them," whispered one of the crew to +his companions. "See how clear the water is. The moon shows the net." + +"Hush," said another; "we are striking into the right course. I see +hungry fish on every side, as if in pursuit." + +And so it was, a few minutes later they came up to a fine shoal of +pilchards, not so large as sometimes, but large enough for the net to +secure fifteen thousand, which were scooped out by the aid of smaller +nets, worked within the compass of the great seine-net. Some large +fish were caught besides, that in chasing their prey had been captured +themselves. + +The "Mary Ann" was not the only well-laden boat that entered Newlyn +harbour next morning; others had been equally successful; for as the +shoal came against one drift-net, its course was altered until it fell +in with another, and so on through the night. + +John Trevan and his partners were met by their wives and children, +all eager to help carry the pilchards to the cellar. They were laden +with cowels, barrows, and tubs, and were soon hard at work. Some of +the women having taken up one load remained in the cellar to cure +them, while the rest went backwards and forwards until the fish were +all brought up; then they too helped to cure them. It is done in +this manner. The pilchards are cleaned and placed in tiers edgewise, +and each tier is sprinkled with salt; they thus resemble a packet of +sandwiches turned side uppermost, and remain in this condition for six +weeks, in order to give time for the oil and water to drain out. They +are thoroughly washed before being packed in barrels for export. + +It was after nine o'clock ere the day's work was done. Then the cellar +was locked, and the members of each family retired to their respective +homes, in a condition agreeable neither to the sight or smell. + +"I am right-down tired," said Dorothy, throwing herself into a chair, +"and so must you be, grandfather; and poor father has been up all +night. But only think, Judith, we've each earned two shillings; for you +know the rule, father, threepence an hour, just as if we were working +for strangers." + +"Are you sure you do as much when you work for me as when you work for +some of our rich merchants?" asked Mr. Trevan. + +"Indeed I am," answered Dorothy. "But here comes mother with something +nice for supper. I do think you are the very kindest mother to be found +anywhere," she added. + +"What can it be?" said Judith, for Mrs. Trevan had brought in her dish +with a white napkin thrown over it. + +"It's a squab pie; I'm sure it is by the shape of it," exclaimed +Dorothy, "Am I right, mother?" + +"Yes, I've kept my secret very well; but I wanted to surprise you, +John, after your hard work." + +A squab pie is highly esteemed in Cornwall; it is made of mutton +steaks, onions, and sliced pippins placed in layers in a deep pie-dish, +and covered with crust. + +"But how did you find time to make it without our knowing?" asked +Judith. + +"I did it when you all went out, yesterday; and I slipped out of the +cellar for a few minutes to look to the fire so as to warm it up +again," replied her mother. "Now, father, let me help you." + +"Not to-night, Philippa," answered the old man, "though I'm sorry to +disappoint you. I'm over tired, and would rather sit still and look +on. John," he added a few minutes later, "I've been asked to be a huer +this year; do you advise me to accept the offer? I'm not sure my old +weather-beaten bark will stand up against the fatigue." + +"Nor do I wish you to risk it, father," said Mr. Trevan. "Leave such +work now for younger men. I ought not to have allowed you to stand +about salting pilchards all to-day." + +"But I like it, John; and I should enjoy standing on Paul Hill to +watch for the tinge on the sea, and to wave a branch of furze hither +and thither when I'm sure the shoal is advancing. I've rarely been +deceived. How wonderful it is to see the water alive with silver +scales." + +"So it is, father, and I know you've been a clever huer in your day, +and since you were too old to command a ship; but you can't stand the +fatigue of watching and waiting about for hours, this year. You are +tired enough with to-day, and it's been easy work compared to a huer's, +for he is exposed to rough winds and heavy rains. Will you not go to +bed at once?" + +"No, John, not until I've offered up my evening prayer. I want to thank +God with you, for I'm so grateful to Him for giving you such a good +take. We may say of the pilchards, we know not whence they come or +whither they go, but that God sends them to us; and it seems to me a +cause for deep thankfulness that they appear year after year; for after +all, it is the Father's good pleasure to send them." + +"So it is, and we will bless Him for His great kindness to us," +responded, John reverently. "How apt we are to forget the many mercies +which are scattered around us day by day, and to take them as if we +deserved them instead of with thankful hearts." + +"Right, John, very right. 'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not +consumed, because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning: +great is His faithfulness.' I can sing of fresh mercies which have been +scattered around my path through all my long, long pilgrimage." + +"So can I; and so can we all," added Mrs. Trevan. "Now, father, let us +pray together." + +Dorothy and Judith were not too tired to join in grandfather's evening +prayer. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE STORM. + +"HOW are you, grandfather?" asked Judith, next morning, tapping at the +old man's door. + +"Come in, dear," he answered. "I'm not well; quite tired out, Judith. +I'm not so young as I was. I must give up work, except mending and +making nets, and I like doing that as well as anything; it reminds me +of the disciples when the Master called them. It can't be long before +He calls me." + +"I'll bring you a cup of tea, grandfather," said the little girl, +stooping down to kiss him tenderly. "I'm so glad you didn't try to get +up until you are more rested." + +Towards afternoon Captain Nance was so far better as to take his old +place in his arm-chair. He tried to mend a net, but his hands did not +move so rapidly as usual. + +"I must give in to-day, Philippa," he said at last. "I'm so very, very +weary. I'm going to tell John he was right when he said I wasn't fit to +be a huer this year. I'm going to look-out for something better than +pilchards—my sailing orders, they won't be long before they come." + +"You're tired and out of spirits to-day, father," said Mrs. Trevan, +kindly. "Another night's rest will set you up again." + +"Never, Philippa; I've gone beyond that. I've only one prayer to be +answered now, then I can say,— + + "'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word.' + +"On my bended knees, night and day, I have and will supplicate my +Heavenly Father, that Willy may yet return. His coming will bring +matters into plain sailing before I go the way of all flesh. I shall +have nothing left to wish for or to care for. He'll come before I die." + +Mrs. Trevan's eyes filled with tears, but she made no remark, and for +some minutes neither father nor daughter spoke. + +"I think I'll have a little walk," said Captain Nance, breaking the +silence, and rising from his arm-chair. "Give me my stick, Philippa." + +"Let one of the children go with you, father, or I will. You seem too +poorly to be alone." + +"I'd rather go by myself, Philippa. I shall only walk as far as the +Tolcarne. You may send the children after me in half an hour." + +The old man wended his way slowly down New Street, and crossed the +bridge over the little river which runs through Newlyn. Turning past +the flour mill, he took a narrow road which led up a steep hill, and +brought him to the Tolcarne. These rocks command a charming view of +Mount's Bay and the hills around it, for they lie on the edge of a high +cliff. In Cornwall is heard what is locally termed the calling of the +sea; a murmuring roaring noise which sometimes extends eight or ten +miles inland. As Captain Nance gazed on the scene which he had known +from boyhood, he thought he heard the sea calling. + +"Calling me home," he said aloud. "What mercy there is in the call. I'm +ready to answer;— + + "'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' + +"I'm not afraid of receiving my sailing orders." + +And the aged man stretched out his hands as if he wished to respond to +what seemed to him a call to another and brighter world. But he drew +them back when he heard footsteps approaching, and recognised voices +that he knew. + +"Who were you speaking to, grandfather?" asked Dorothy. + +Captain Nance smiled. "To the waves, dear," he replied. "It's almost +hard to return back again to the world, even to be with those I love so +well. I feel so very, very weary to-day." + +"Grandfather, come home," said Judith, taking his hand, gently. "You go +the other side, Dorothy." + +So they led him down the hill, and beguiled him along by their loving +words. He fell into a calm sleep on his return, and then they told +their mother how they had found their grandfather, and what he had said. + +"I believe the end is approaching," she answered; "we shall have to +brace ourselves up to bid him farewell soon. We shall miss him, but we +dare not pray to God to let him live amongst us when he longs so much +to be safely landed with his Saviour." + + +The month of September found the fishermen still busy; but a great +change had passed over Captain Nance in the few weeks which intervened +since he had taken an active part in curing the first pilchards of the +season. He no longer attempted to make or mend a net, but sat in his +arm-chair all day long. He rarely tried to walk even so far as the iron +railings, and sometimes slept for several hours during the day. + +The doctor said that no medicine could prevent the candle of life from +burning out. + +To the question which his friends so often asked, "How are you to-day, +Captain Nance?" he replied, "As well as I ever shall be. I'm waiting, +waiting, waiting for my sailing orders to come." + +"There's no going out fishing to-day," said John Trevan, entering +the room where his wife sat with her father, about twelve o'clock +one morning in the third week of September. "It's blowing a strong +sou'-wester outside the bay; when the tide turns we shall have rough +weather. Give me a bit of dinner, wife, for I'm going to take the 'Mary +Ann' into Penzance harbour, lest any harm should befall her; there's +not much chance for a fishing-boat if she breaks away from her moorings +in such a gale as we shall have." + +Mount's Bay was soon alive with vessels sailing across from Newlyn to +find a better place of refuge than the little harbour affords when the +wind sets in from this quarter. Not only were the small craft glad to +gain shelter, but many merchant-ships were seen making for the bay. + +At the turn of the tide, John Trevan's words were verified. The waves +rolled up with terrific force, and broke over houses and walls; over +the high road between Penzance and Newlyn, which lies exposed to +the beach; over carriages and carts; over grown-up people and young +children. + +It happened to be market day at Penzance, so that many were passing to +and from Newlyn. At length the road became dangerous, for the waves +threw up great stones; so the women took to the fields and the men +ran along the wall which divided the road from the fields. Many were +heavily laden; husbands had been making purchases, and wives had their +baskets filled with provisions for home consumption; but even the +fields were flooded at last, and few escaped a wetting. + +The water dashed over the seawall at Newlyn, and right up the narrow +way past John Trevan's house. Dorothy and Judith, who were standing at +the iron railing, were nearly swept down by the fury of a wave, and, +thoroughly drenched, were glad to run home. + +John Trevan was returning from Penzance after placing the "Mary Ann" in +safe anchorage, when he spied a boat which had evidently broken from +its moorings in the bay. "Do unto others as you would that they should +do unto you" was his motto, so he went down on the beach to see if he +could save the boat from being dashed on the rocks. + +"Let it alone," shouted one of his comrades; "it belongs to James +Thompson, and if it's lost, he deserves it." + +"Nay, nay," answered John, "that's not what my Gospel teaches me. Come +and give me a hand." + +The other man passed on. But John was not to be deterred from doing the +right by this conduct. He stopped one and another of the fishermen who +had been to Penzance on the same errand as himself, and enlisted their +services. The boat was secured at last and dragged into a place of +safety, just as Thompson, who had been warned of the danger to which it +was exposed, came running up to look after his property. + +He was a cross-grained fellow, and not a favourite in Newlyn; but he +now advanced to John Trevan and offered him his hand. + +"You've done more to make me acknowledge the truth of the Gospel than +any man in Newlyn," he said. "I did not believe you when you declared +one day you tried to carry out the golden rule in your words and +actions; now I do believe you. There must be something real in such +religion as yours. I shan't forget this in a hurry." + +John shook the hand thus held out to him warmly, and from that hour +these two became staunch friends. + +By six o'clock in the evening the waves dashed mountains high, and +the whole length of the shore was a bubbling, surging mass of foam. +One ship was struggling across the bay; she was driven about in all +directions, but evidently hoped to reach the harbour. + +Between Newlyn and Penzance there are many reefs of rocks, and it needs +careful navigation to steer clear of them; it seemed as if the vessel +which was battling with the waves must be wrecked on these rocks. +As she neared the pier she drifted to seaward; the coast-guardsmen +signalled to her and prepared boats and rockets; when anxiety was at +its height, a sudden shift of wind caught her sails, and she safely +cleared the pier. + +While this vessel was saved, another, later in that evening, was lost. +She came from America and was bound to Plymouth, but she could not +reach Mount's Bay; she was driven into Lamorna Cove. + +It is a wild spot at all times, for the rocks are on a large scale, +and the shore is strewn with great boulders. A few workmen's cottages +scattered here and there are the only signs of habitation. The sea +on a calm day leaves only a fringe of sand, but in storm dashes up +furiously, carrying all before it. + +The American vessel soon went to pieces. Only two of her crew reached +land, and only one of the two lived through the night. Both of them +were cast on to a rock; a young man and an old man. While the latter +had no strength to crawl out of danger, his companion managed to creep +high enough away from the waves to save his life. There he lay unable +to move until morning broke, when he was discovered by one of the +workmen, who took him to his cottage. + +This was how Willy Trevan came home. + + ———————— + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SAILING ORDERS. + +THE sea was not calm enough the next day to allow the Newlyn fishermen +to go out in their boats, but it was not raging as on the previous +night, though wise heads said that at the turn of the tide the waves +would come up almost as wildly as on the previous evening. + +The fishermen stood together in knots through Newlyn, talking over the +last night's gale, and retailing the news that one and another had +picked up by the way. + +The streets and rough pathways gave evidence of the storm; seaweed lay +in large quantities everywhere, while on the shore they were gathering +it up into heaps ready to cart away to manure the fields. One little +garden which lay exposed to the seawall was literally washed away, and +where flowers had been on the previous day, there was seaweed; while +the cockle shells that had ornamented the borders were strewn about in +wild disorder. + +Captain Nance felt very weakly; he found it difficult to leave his bed +at all; but his brave spirit went far to sustain him, and with the +assistance of his daughter, he was placed in his accustomed chair by +dinner-time. + +John Trevan came home with a sad list of accidents that had befallen +different vessels along the coast, and also said that an American ship +had been wrecked in Lamorna Cove, "and only one poor fellow saved, who +lies ill at Tressider's cottage," he added. + +"He'll be well looked after there," remarked Mrs. Trevan. "I wonder who +he is, and whether he was homeward bound. We must see if he has lost +his all, and help him, John, if he is in want. You will meet Tressider +either to-morrow or the next day, when he comes to market, so mind you +ask him some particulars." + +John nodded his assent; he knew why his wife was so anxious to hear +about this wrecked man; it was her tribute to Willy's memory. + +"We've not heard the extent of the damages," said Captain Nance. +"There's been more mischief done; you may depend upon it many lives +were lost last night. Some, I dare say, prayed when danger threatened, +as the disciples did of old,— + + "'Lord, save us: we perish.' + +"But others, it may be, found a watery grave without having time to +cry for mercy. There are many sorrowful hearts, and anxious ones, too, +about our world to-day." + +Here grandfather was interrupted by a tap at the door. Dorothy, who was +sitting close by, opened it. + +"Here's a letter for Mr. Trevan. I'll come back for an answer directly." + +John took the note; it was closely sealed. He tore it open, and as +he read the first words he uttered an exclamation which he checked +quickly, glancing at his wife. + +"What is it?" she asked, anxiously noting her husband's agitation. +"John, tell me;" and she would have taken the letter from him. + +"No, no, Philippa," he said, "not yet. Can you bear it?" + +"Bear what, John? Tell me." + +"Willy's come home. He's the young man who lies ill at Tressider's." + +Philippa could not bear the joyful news; she fainted away. The strain +and weariness, the tears and long waiting, had lasted for years; and +now the joy was so unlooked for. But consciousness soon returned. + +"He's come at last," she murmured. "My God, I thank Thee for hearing a +mother's prayers." + +"Bear up bravely, wife; our son is not far off; he's only at Lamorna; +we must go and fetch him home." + +"Where is he?" she asked, as if she scarcely comprehended her husband's +words. + +"At Lamorna. Tressider found him lying on a rock, bruised and hurt, but +living. He was the only one saved from the wreck." + +Mr. and Mrs. Trevan made all haste to reach Lamorna Cove. There indeed +were signs of storm, for scattered about far inland were quantities of +seaweed and timbers which had been washed up by the great waves. + +Tressider's cottage was planted half way up the ravine, so they were +obliged to leave their hired cart at the little roadside inn, and walk +to it. Philippa's knees trembled; she could scarcely command herself +enough to go forward; and her teeth chattered with agitation. Mr. +Trevan threw his strong arm round her and almost carried her at last. + +"John, let me go to him alone," she said. + +No one but God and the angels witnessed the meeting between the mother +and her newly found son. When the husband entered the room ten minutes +later, they were still locked in a close embrace; but they made room +for him, and Willy was forgiven and welcomed home by his father. + + +More than a week elapsed before he could bear the journey to Newlyn. +His mother remained with him, and little by little heard the sad +history of his life. It was an old, old story that Willy told. The +story of the prodigal wandering from his father, and choosing his own +way; finding the world a hard taskmaster; going from one scene of +wickedness to another; then being in want and resolving to go home. +But in the meantime he had learned by stern discipline that he had +wronged a Heavenly Father as well as an earthly parent; he remembered +his mother's tears and prayers, and he arose and went to his God; made +confession of his sins, and sued for pardon through Jesus Christ. + +When the family was once more re-united in the old home, every heart +was full to overflowing with gratitude to God. Willy was carried from +the spring cart and laid on the sofa that had been brought in from the +best parlour for him. It was an old-fashioned couch, which was deemed +too good for ordinary occasions, but was not thought too good for sick +Willy to rest upon. + +The meeting between Captain Nance and his grandson was solemn and +touching. + +"'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word,'" said the old man, as he bent over him and kissed him. "Willy, +I believed I should live to see you, and God has sent you home. Praise +the Lord for all His mercies, and most of all for teaching you, even +though suffering, that there's no safe anchorage anywhere out of +Christ." + +Dorothy and Judith were silent with pleasure; they looked lovingly and +admiringly at their tall sun-burnt brother, who pressed the hands that +fondled his. It was not a noisy family party that sat in that little +parlour at Newlyn on the evening that Willy returned, but a very happy, +quiet, earnest group; even his father remained at home to receive him. + +Captain Nance, as usual, conducted prayer. + +"Good-bye, my children and grandchildren," he said, ere he left the +room. "My sailing orders will come soon now. My old weather-beaten +bark will be safely landed on the eternal shore before long. The +harbour-master will come alongside and release me from any further +waiting. Bless and thank God for it. Kiss me, all of you." + +They obeyed him, and then his daughter helped him to bed as usual. +Afterwards she came to her Willy, and his room, which had so long been +empty, was once more tenanted by its rightful occupant. + +The next morning there was a sound of weeping in the fisherman's +cottage, for they loved the brave old man so much. His sailing orders +had been brought to him during the night, and his weather-beaten bark +was safely landed where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary +are at rest. + + + +[Illustration] + + + +LONDON: R. K. BURT AND CO., PRINTERS. + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76233 *** diff --git a/76233-h/76233-h.htm b/76233-h/76233-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89c4b15 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/76233-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3058 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Waiting for Sailing Orders. Fisher-Life at the Land's End., by Mrs. George Gladstone │ Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/image001.jpg" type="image/cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size:12.0pt; + font-family:"Verdana"; +} + +p {text-indent: 2em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.w100 { + width: auto + } + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.container{ + display:flex; + } + +.container img{ + width: 250px; + height: 200px; +} + +.container p{ + margin:0; +} + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 125%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t2 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3b { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center + } + +p.t4 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center + } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.poem { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding: 20px 0; + text-align: left; + width: 555px; + } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76233 ***</div> + +<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002"> +</figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<h1>WAITING FOR SAILING ORDERS.</h1> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t1"> +FISHER-LIFE AT THE LAND'S END.<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +BY<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +MRS. GEORGE GLADSTONE<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +AUTHOR OF "NORWEGIAN STORIES," "FIRESIDE STORIES," ETC.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image004" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image004.jpg" alt="image004"></figure> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD;<br> +<br> +AND 164, PICCADILLY.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image005" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image005.jpg" alt="image005"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +PREFACE.<br> +</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image006" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image006.jpg" alt="image006"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + SOME weeks have elapsed since the author of this little story was +separated by death from a dear and honoured mother, to whom she +submitted all her literary work, on whose criticism she relied, and in +whose judgment she placed implicit confidence. "Waiting for Sailing +Orders" was the last story which passed under her aged mother's review; +the title had a special charm for the latter, who knew not how soon her +summons would come, but always kept her lamp trimmed, and was prepared +to meet her Lord, at whatever hour He sent His summons.<br> +<br> + Her children were standing round her death-bed, wondering if +consciousness yet remained, and how long the spirit would linger +ere it fled to the mansions of the blest, when she said, in such +clear and distinct tones that all in the room could hear, "I am +waiting,—waiting,—waiting, for my sailing orders to come."<br> +<br> + Three days later her sailing orders came, and the sweet smile which +lingered in death made those who were left behind rejoice in the midst +of tears, because it seemed to speak of the joy and bliss into which +the spirit entered when the "waiting" was over and a long eternity in +view.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image007" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image007.jpg" alt="image007"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS.<br> +</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image008" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image008.jpg" alt="image008"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>CHAPTER</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I. MACKEREL FISHING</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II. THE GREAT SORROW</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III. THE OLD TAR</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV. THE LAND'S END</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V. GRANDFATHER'S TALES</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI. ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII. WILLY'S BIRTHDAY</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII. MIDSUMMER EVE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX. PILCHARD FISHING</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X. THE STORM</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_11">XI. SAILING ORDERS</a></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>WAITING FOR SAILING ORDERS.</b><br> +</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image009" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image009.jpg" alt="image009"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>MACKEREL FISHING.</b><br> +</p> + +<div class="container"> +<figure id="image010"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image010.jpg" alt="image010"> +</figure> +<p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +THE fishing village of Newlyn, which stretches about a +mile along the west shore of Mount's Bay, in Cornwall, presented a busy +scene one morning in April of the year 1862. The mackerel season had +just begun, and some of the boats came in heavily laden.<br> +<br> + "What's the take?" asked an old woman of a sailor.<br> +<br> + "A thousand downwards," was the reply, which meant that the number of +mackerel in each boat varied from that number to one hundred, fifty, +twenty, ten, five or not one.</p> +</div> + +<p>In Mount's Bay the boats are large, and among the safest and best craft +to be found on any fishing coast. They each carry a crew of seven men, +who share equally in the profits, after a certain portion has been set +aside for the use of the vessel and the nets.</p> + +<p>The "Mary Ann," which brought in the thousand mackerel, belonged +to John Trevan. He was a man much respected in Newlyn, for all +his dealings were fair and upright. He had for partners six other +fishermen, of whom he was the captain, and who deferred to him at all +times, placing the most implicit confidence in his judgment.</p> + +<p>As the ship's boat containing John Trevan and his mates came near the +shore, the agents of several London fish-dealers waded through the +water to bid for the finest mackerel. The bargain was soon concluded to +the satisfaction of all parties; then the fish were thrown into baskets +and carried on to the sands, where they were turned into a tub of +water, washed, packed neatly in the same baskets, and carried away in +carts to the railway. The hake, cod, conger eels, a few soles, and some +very small mackerel that remained, the crew divided with their captain.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan was awaiting the arrival of her husband with her basket. +Every Cornish woman owns a basket of some sort: those carried by the +fish-women are called "cowels," and are supported on the back by a band +passed round the forehead.</p> + +<p>"We've had splendid sport, Philippa," said John Trevan to his wife, +"and there's a fine lot for home use. Let's have a conger pie for +to-morrow. I'll be in to dinner; but we must hang our nets to dry +first, and clean up a bit. The boat's off again at six. I can afford to +take my holiday to-morrow cheerfully, after my good fortune of to-day."</p> + +<p>"Yes, John, and if only we can have fine weather like this, you'll +enjoy it," answered Mrs. Trevan.</p> + +<p>"We must work hard all the afternoon, for the nets have got sadly +broken. Father will have more than he can do, a boat ran clean through +one of mine."</p> + +<p>Philippa Trevan gathered up her share of fish, and placing it in her +basket, walked slowly up the narrow road from the sands, towards +Street-an-Nowan, or New Street, close to which she lived.</p> + +<p>Newlyn is the principal fishing station in Mount's Bay. It is divided +into two parts, which can only communicate, the one with the other, +by the sands, unless you go far into the country, over the high hill +which leads to the church-town of Paul. In ordinary tides the sea comes +nearly up to the stepping-stones, but sometimes it dashes against the +cliff, and renders the shore too dangerous to be crossed, even in a +boat. The houses are irregularly built, and the streets are narrow, +ill-paved, and in many parts run along the top of the sea wall, with no +protection from the waves except what is afforded by a strong open iron +railing.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan turned up narrow Rag-stone pathway before she reached the +end of New Street, and mounted four steps which led into a comfortable +sitting-room in a whitewashed cottage. The small door to the right +opened into the best parlour, at the back were the kitchen and +grandfather's bedroom, and overhead three more rooms.</p> + +<p>An old man, a very old man, with snowy hair, sat in his arm-chair +reading out of a large printed Bible; and in spite of the difference of +years, his features were so like Mrs. Trevan's, there was no difficulty +in recognising the relationship of father and daughter which existed +between the two.</p> + +<p>"You're soon home, Philippa," he said; "have you good news?"</p> + +<p>"Very good, father; John has taken a thousand mackerel, and sold them +well. He says there will be more work than you can do to mend the nets."</p> + +<p>"I'll try my best, Philippa. We expect to mend them up every day. The +Lord Jesus isn't here with his disciples. I'd just read these words +when I heard your footstep: 'Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to +land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all +there were so many, yet was not the net broken.'"</p> + +<p>"No, He isn't walking in our midst as in those times, father," said +Mrs. Trevan, "but he's just as near to us in spirit as he was then. I +never see John start without commending him to God in Christ. I think +as I grow older my Saviour seems to come nearer. But for his living +presence in my heart, I could not go about my daily work as cheerfully +as I do. Remember my boy, my first-born, and the awful uncertainty +about him. Oh, father, I try hard to think of what my Saviour suffered +on the cross for me, so as to get strength to endure my own sorrow with +a lighter heart."</p> + +<p>"Poor Philippa," answered the old man, tenderly. "Be of good courage. +God will hear our prayers. I'm on the mountain-top of my pilgrimage, +very soon I shall be running fast down the other side, entering into +the dark valley and shadow of death; but I believe I shall see the lad +before my sailing orders come."</p> + +<p>"You've such strong faith, father. Mine is dimmed sometimes with +waiting and longing; but only dimmed for the moment, for through all +my bitterness of spirit, I remember that my Heavenly Father loves +and cares for my poor misguided son. But here come the children from +school."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan had just time to take up her basket and go hurriedly into +the kitchen, drying her tears, when Dorothy and Judith, her twin +daughters, entered, and coming up to their grandfather, kissed him +affectionately. The old man returned their caresses, for he loved these +girls next to, if not as well as his own daughter. He lived over past +days with them, for they never wearied of hearing of the perils by land +and sea, which had overtaken him during his long life.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith would complete their thirteenth year on the morrow. +They closely resembled one another in features, but were unlike in +disposition; for while Dorothy was high-spirited and quick-tempered, +Judith was mild, tractable, and quiet. Their figures were upright and +well-formed; they had bright jet black eyes, and long curling hair, +fresh complexions, and frank open faces. They wore the gipsy hats +made of beaver which are now out of date, short light-coloured print +dresses, dark-blue knitted stockings of their own making, and strong +leather boots.</p> + +<p>"Have you done well at school this morning?" asked their grandfather.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very well," answered Dorothy. "I did my sums so quickly that +teacher said she was pleased for me to have a holiday to-morrow. She +remembered that we spent our birthday at the Land's End last year +with great-uncle Thomas Nance. You know Judith is always good at her +lessons, grandfather."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Dorothy," answered Captain Nance, for so the old man +was called. "Do try, there's a good girl, to deserve the praise you've +just bestowed on your sister. Let Judith be able to say of you, 'She is +always good at her lessons.'"</p> + +<p>"I do try, grandfather, to be attentive, but I can't always be the +same. Judith hasn't such a nasty temper as I have to worry her."</p> + +<p>"There's one cure for it; we may all go to the Great Physician, my +little girl. How you will enjoy yourself, Dorothy, when to-morrow +comes! I didn't think I should live to go with you again; I shall +be fourscore years and ten if God spares my life until the 9th of +November."</p> + +<p>"That is a long, long time compared with our thirteen years," said +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"It is a long time to have lived, my dear. I shan't be much more tossed +on the billows, for the storm of life will soon be over, and my poor +old weather-beaten bark will be safely landed on that happy shore where +the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."</p> + +<p>"But, grandfather, what shall we do without you?" asked Judith, laying +her soft cheek on the old man's. "We are so happy together."</p> + +<p>"So we are, dearie, but it's not the happiness of yonder world. Don't +want to keep me here, little one; you must try and be very glad when +the old tar has his sailing orders."</p> + +<p>"Come, children," called their mother, "lay the table for dinner. I +have plenty to do to make ready for your birthday trip to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith were soon busy in household matters, and we will +leave them so engaged while we give a short account of the family to +which we have introduced our reader.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE GREAT SORROW.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>JOHN TREVAN was among the most prosperous inhabitants of Newlyn. He was +an industrious man; his wife was thrifty, and he had a small family to +support. It consisted of one son, who had wandered far away from his +father's house, eight years before our story commences, and the twin +daughters.</p> + +<p>John Trevan married Philippa Nance, at the age of thirty-five. He +brought his wife, who was six years his junior, to the whitewashed +cottage we have described, where his parents had lived before him. Her +father came too, for he could not be separated from his only remaining +child. When Philippa consented to marry John Trevan she stipulated that +her well-beloved parent should share her future home.</p> + +<p>"He will be no burden upon you, John, for he has enough to keep him," +she said.</p> + +<p>To which her future husband replied, "He would be welcome for your +sake, Philippa, were he penniless."</p> + +<p>A boy was born to them at the end of two years. This event brought +great joy to the little circle; but as the lad grew in years, his +parents had many reasons for deep anguish regarding him. He was +named William, after his grandfather; and known to all in Newlyn as +"mischievous Willy." He was brought up carefully, and taught to fear +God; but he spurned the good, and clung to the evil; yet sometimes, +when his mother took him into her room, and knelt in prayer to God, +with him at her side, his tears would come, and he would say,—</p> + +<p>"Mother, it is so hard not to be naughty."</p> + +<p>And she answered him, "I know it, my darling boy; but do not trust +to yourself, pray to God, Willy, to make you a better lad. Ask your +Heavenly Father to give you His Spirit to help you, and change your +heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He will not refuse to hear your +prayer if you ask in Christ's name."</p> + +<p>For one or two days after an outbreak Willy was more obedient, and then +he began to be tiresome again. He had no regard for truth, and played +truant so often that at last either his father or mother took him to +school every morning, and gave him into his teacher's charge, before +they went about their daily work.</p> + +<p>When Willy reached his tenth year, his twin sisters were born, and for +a few weeks all went smoothly with him. He loved the little baby girls, +and felt very proud when his mother allowed him to hold one of them in +his arms, but this novel pleasure wore off, and he was again running +wild with unruly boys.</p> + +<p>"I must send him to sea a year or two hence, under some wise captain," +said John Trevan to his wife, many times. "I can't keep him at home if +he does not turn over a new leaf. He'll have to think when he has to go +before the mast, and be obliged to obey; and he'll be quite away from +his bad companions."</p> + +<p>But the mother clung to her prodigal; her love for him grew all the +more because Willy's friends were so few, and because he was the child +of so many tears and prayers.</p> + +<p>A hundred years ago smuggling was rife in Cornwall, and contraband +goods and spirits were netted instead of fish. Then Wesley and +Whitfield roused the people up to better things by their preaching, and +taught them to reverence God and believe in His Son. Willy had heard +many wonderful stories about these smugglers, and he thought it was +just the sort of life that would have suited him. He wished those old +times were not over, for he disliked the hard work of a fisherman's +life.</p> + +<p>So time passed on until Willy reached his fifteenth year. On the +morning of his birthday, he quarrelled with his father, and refused to +help him dry his net. John Trevan grew angry, and high words passed +between the two. The end of it was, that the boy packed on his clothes, +and when his father went out fishing and the rest were asleep, crept +to the old teapot where his mother kept her money, and having robbed +her of two sovereigns, stole away from his home, and took the road +towards Plymouth. He walked some miles before he ventured to get a lift +in a waggon, lest he should be recognised and taken back to Newlyn. At +Plymouth, he engaged himself to a captain who commanded a large ship +bound to Lagos, in Africa; but a bad unprincipled man. Thus far he had +been traced, and eight years had passed away without bringing him home +again, or a message or letter being received from him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan was bowed down with grief when she found her son had left +his home without bidding her farewell. So soon as she discovered that +her little store of money was gone too, and thought of her first-born +as a common thief, she moaned out in the bitterness of her sorrow, "My +heart will break. Oh, Willy, Willy! What have I done that you should +treat me so cruelly?"</p> + +<p>John Trevan was indignant. "Let him go," he said; "I do not own a thief +as my son."</p> + +<p>But when year after year ran on, he forgot Willy's faults, and only +yearned to clasp him in his arms once more. No family prayer ever +closed without remembering him. His mother felt she could give him up +if only she knew what fate had befallen him, and that he had turned to +God.</p> + +<p>The little girls retained a vivid remembrance of their brother; they +hushed their voices when his birthday came, it was so differently kept +to their own; there was no holiday-making. Their mother looked sad, and +always went out alone before breakfast, up the hill behind Newlyn, into +the fields, to a point which commanded a view of the broad ocean. Her +birthday prayer for Willy was that he might come home, not as he left +her, but with a new heart and a right spirit.</p> + +<p>The little circle at Newlyn would have known but few cares had Willy +been with them, a steady well behaved boy.</p> + +<p>"It's doing us good," John said to his wife, when they reverted to +their great sorrow. "Perhaps we should have grown away from God if our +boy had given us no trouble; but now He's chastening us, and teaching +us the value of having a Father in heaven, to whom we can tell out all +our troubles. I am like your father, Philippa, I believe God will help +Willy, as He has helped us, and bring him home again."</p> + +<p>The mother sighed when her husband spoke thus, and answered, "God grant +it may be so."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE OLD TAR.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"GRANDFATHER, make haste," said Dorothy and Judith, tapping at the old +man's door, next morning. "It's past seven, and breakfast is ready. +We're to go away at ten o'clock. Father has ordered the cart to come +punctually."</p> + +<p>"Many happy returns of the day to both of you," answered Captain Nance, +opening his door. "Come in, my dears, and let me say my birthday wishes +here. I believe I was up the first in the house this morning, and see +I've got on my best rigging. It's only on such gala days as these that +I dress up my old weather-beaten hulk so grandly; and I've put on all +my medals, too, in your honour."</p> + +<p>"You look fine, grandfather," exclaimed the little girls. "You must +tell us some old stories about them to-day."</p> + +<p>"So I will, little ones; I'll try and make your day cheery. I've done +nothing but think about you since I opened my eyes this morning. I've +been talking to the Lord about you: I've asked Him to give you a good +passage through life."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, grandfather," said Dorothy, throwing her arms round the +old man's neck and kissing him. "But now you must come, for father +and mother will be waiting. After breakfast we will go into the best +parlour, and you shall tell us all about yourself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, do, grandfather!" added Judith. "But now come with us."</p> + +<p>Each of the little girls took possession of a hand, and led the old man +into the everyday sitting-room.</p> + +<p>Captain Nance was quite accustomed to be so escorted, and he was just +as submissive after the morning meal was ended. He allowed himself +to be guided into the best parlour and seated in an arm-chair, while +Dorothy and Judith placed themselves at his feet to hear some passages +of his eventful history. They knew it well; certain parts of it they +could repeat from memory, but still they liked to listen, for their +grandfather invariably added some detail which gave fresh charm to the +story.</p> + +<p>"We've a whole hour before us," said Dorothy; "so begin directly, +please, grandfather. Just say off quickly what happened to you, and +then let us ask questions."</p> + +<p>Captain Nance cleared his throat, and began, in these words:</p> + +<p>"I have borne the battle and the breezes of a life on the sea for more +than fifty years. I have been in four quarters of the world, and have +been four times shipwrecked. I have crossed the Atlantic thirty times; +I have lost four sons at sea; I have been in four battles at sea; I +have saved two men from drowning. I have been a standard-bearer in the +temperance army for more than forty years, and I have belonged to the +Band of Hope for nigh upon a quarter of a century. Now I have coiled +up my ropes, and am safely moored in a sailor's cot with those whom I +love, and am patiently waiting for my sailing orders, bound on a long, +long voyage, from whence there is no return—for ever and for ever. +Amen."</p> + +<p>"Now, Dorothy, which part do you want to hear about?" asked Judith, +breaking the silence which fell over the little party after the "Amen."</p> + +<p>"I know," replied Dorothy, whispering into her sister's ear first, and +then repeating the same words aloud: "Grandfather, tell me about my +uncles who were lost at sea, if it won't make you very sad."</p> + +<p>"No, no, child: I ought not to be sad, an old tar should be a brave +man. Thank God, your grandmother didn't live to see those days. I +buried her in the churchyard yonder, at Paul, long before the sea +swallowed up my sons. They were fine young fellows, and God-fearing +men; they prospered and rose rapidly in the service, until they +became master mariners. Three were lost within a few weeks of one +another. They were outward bound to foreign parts. I can't tell you +how they died: no one on this earth knows what they suffered, for +ships, captains, officers, passengers, and crews, went down. But +though they didn't reach the harbour of refuge here, Christ, the great +Harbour-Master, came alongside and welcomed them into glory. Ah! My +children, I'm proud to think of your uncles as honest Christian men, +and as now safe with Christ.</p> + +<p>"I blessed the name of the Lord even when my heart was bowed down with +grief," said Captain Nance, reverently, after a pause. "Learn to thank +God, my dear grandchildren, when He gives and when He takes away."</p> + +<p>"And what of my fourth uncle, grandfather?" questioned Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"My fourth boy, my Benjamin, yet remained to gladden my life. He was in +America when the news of his brothers' death reached him. I expected +him to return home in a few months' time, so I wrote and told him how I +longed to see him, for he was my only son. He sent me a letter filled +with words of comfort, and directed me to lean on the Rock of Ages +in time of storm. He said he would be homeward bound earlier than he +expected, and that a few days after his letter reached me, he would +probably set sail.</p> + +<p>"I counted how long it would take him to reach Plymouth if the weather +were in his favour. I made allowance for contrary winds, and decided +when I might expect him here. A week before it was possible for him to +come, a great storm arose, and the Master was not in the ship to say, +'Peace, be still.' But He was watching; he hadn't forgotten my brave +boy; he had prepared a mansion for him, and his Heavenly Father wanted +him to fill it. The ship went down, and only two of the crew were +saved; my boy, and all on board besides, perished; they told me he was +praying when they last saw him. I could only murmur in the first days +of this new sorrow: 'If I be bereaved of my children I am bereaved.'</p> + +<p>"My fifth child was spared to me. Your mother, my dear Philippa, yet +lives to cheer my last days, and God has given me your love. I thank +him for these mercies."</p> + +<p>The old man's tears were falling fast as he said these words. He did +not often weep, but on this birthday morning, the past came up before +him, and while thinking of his grandchildren, he had pictured to +himself what his sons would have been to him in his old age had they +lived.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather, I'm so sorry: I ought not to have asked you to tell me +about my dead uncles. Please forgive me," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I've nothing to forgive, dearie. Though my tears fall I do not fret, +for I know my Heavenly Father has ordered all things for the best. I +shall soon be with my lost ones. I'll not start sheet nor anchor until +I get a clear meridian observation of Canaan, then I will furl sails +and 'lay to' until my Saviour calls me to himself, and allows my old +weather-beaten barque to enter the harbour."</p> + +<p>There was a pause of some minutes, and then Judith said, "It's my turn +now, grand father, and I'm going to ask you how you won your medals."</p> + +<p>"And I'm going to ask you to get ready," called out John Trevan, +opening the door. "Fetch your cloaks and hats, children, while I wrap +your grandfather up in his warm coat, for the wind is cold, and we +can't afford to let him run any risks."</p> + +<p>All was now busy preparation; and in less than half an hour, the party +were on their way to the Land's End. Captain Nance, Dorothy, and her +father, sat on the front seat, and Philippa, with her daughter Judith, +and a large basket of provisions between them, were packed in behind.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE LAND'S END.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE first part of the road from Newlyn to the Land's End runs through +charming scenery. The hedges are rich in ferns, foxglove, and wild +flowers, and the trees are well-grown. But as you near the most +westerly point of England, the few trees that rise up here and there +are stunted and poor, while the hedges disappear and are replaced by +fences formed of blocks of granite standing on end.</p> + +<p>It took John Trevan two full hours to drive to the cottage where +great-uncle Thomas and his wife lived during the spring, summer, and +autumn. In winter they were glad to go and stay with their daughter, +who resided at Sennen, a little village one mile distant.</p> + +<p>The cart was left at the Land's End Inn, and its occupants walked +towards the cottage which was a few hundred yards off. It was a simple +building, and stood quite alone on a grassy slope facing the sea, +no habitation but the small hotel being in sight. A board nailed on +the outside wall announced "the first and last refreshment-room in +England," kept by Thomas and Molly Nance. The old couple gathered +many shillings during the season by providing accommodation for those +visitors who preferred bringing their own provisions and being supplied +with crockery, or who required boiling water for a tea-drinking. A case +of minerals stood outside the door, and the sale of them was another +source of income.</p> + +<p>They were awaiting the arrival of their relations. Dorothy and Judith +bounded on in front for the first kisses: Captain Nance, with his +son-in-law and daughter, came more slowly.</p> + +<p>Seldom have two finer old men been seen than were William Nance and his +brother Thomas. The latter was in his eighty-eighth year.</p> + +<p>"Welcome here once more, William," said Thomas Nance. "Thank God for +sparing us to meet again."</p> + +<p>"Yes, brother, I do thank God with you, for his tender mercies. He's +upheld us through the battles and breezes of life for the greater part +of a century."</p> + +<p>They entered the cottage, which only consisted of two rooms. One +of them was usually kept for visitors, but no strangers were to be +admitted that day, and it being early in the season, there was little +fear of any excursionist wishing to disturb the family gathering.</p> + +<p>The morning was exquisitely fine and clear, but the wind was high, and +the waves were scattering their white foam over the cliffs.</p> + +<p>"Shall we go on to the Land's End at once to sing our hymn?" asked +Thomas Nance.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied his brother, "we must keep to the old rule."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image011" style="max-width: 35.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image011.jpg" alt="image011"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>THE LAND'S END.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>It is said that when Wesley stood on the Land's End for the first time, +he was deeply impressed with the sublimity of the scene, and exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"Lo! on a narrow neck of land,<br> + 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand,<br> + Secure, insensible:<br> + A point of time, a moment's space,<br> + Removes me to that heavenly place,<br> + Or shuts me up in hell."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>It was the hymn which contains these words the brothers sang at their +annual meeting.</p> + +<p>"Come, children, we will go first," said John Trevan.</p> + +<p>They took the narrow path leading over the cliff to the granite rocks +that form the Land's End promontory, and rise up out of the sea some +sixty feet high; and standing close together on the point known as +"Wesley's spot," sang the beautiful hymn which commences thus: "Thou +God of glorious majesty."</p> + +<p>When the last notes died away, the brothers walked together in silence +towards the cottage; Mrs. Trevan followed with Aunt Molly, but John and +his children lingered behind to admire and enjoy the magnificent scene. +Judith clung close to her father, she was afraid of looking down into +the deep sea or scrambling over the rocks without holding him firmly by +the hand. Dorothy had no such fear, but watched the dashing waves with +delight, and made her way alone through the narrow opening which leads +to the extreme point of the Land's End.</p> + +<p>They found a seat on a flat stone sheltered from the wind by a high +rock; here they sat down and looked out on the broad Atlantic. The line +of coast ends with Cape Cornwall, Longship's Lighthouse rises from a +cluster of rocks about a mile from the shore, while about eight miles +distant a dangerous rock of green-stone, called the Wolf, stands boldly +up. A lighthouse has been built upon it within the last few years; but +in the days of which we write, it had no such beacon to mark it, yet +it was viewed with such alarm by mariners that many contrivances were +thought of. One of them was to fix the figure of an enormous wolf on +the rock, which was to be hollow inside, ad that the wind would make a +loud noise in passing through, and ring the bells that were attached to +it; but the tides were so strong, and the waves dashed over the rock +with such violence, that this proposal was never carried out.</p> + +<p>The rock on which Longship's Lighthouse is built is called Carn-Brâs. +Including the rock, it is about one hundred and twenty-seven feet high. +The walls are four feet thick at the base, and two feet seven inches +at the top. During winter, when the weather is stormy, the tide rushes +furiously against the rock, and renders landing so difficult, that the +men in charge have to keep a large stock of provisions by them in case +of a gale blowing for some days.</p> + +<p>"How many people are there at Longship's, father, to take care of it?" +asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Three, my dear. For a long time there were only two; but once a poor +fellow in charge was cleaning some fish and fell over a rock. He was +dead before his companion discovered him, probably he was killed on the +spot. The living man managed to drag the body within shelter of the +lighthouse, and then he showed a signal of distress; but though the +people at St. Just saw it, they couldn't send help, for a sudden wind +sprang up and a heavy storm raged for several days. Since this terrible +event the change has been made."</p> + +<p>"How dreadful for the poor man to be shut away from everybody, with +only his dead friend near," said Judith, drawing closer to her father. +"I hope he loved God, so that he could talk to him. How glad I am you +don't take care of a lighthouse! I shouldn't like you to live nearly +alone on a rock, and only come home sometimes."</p> + +<p>"If we might be with father, I should like it very much," exclaimed +Dorothy, "I'm so fond of seeing the waves beat up high; and if we lived +at Longship's, Judith, we should see the seals asleep on the rocks."</p> + +<p>"Not many of them, my dear," said John Trevan, laughing. "You must have +picked that up in a school-book. It's a rare thing to see even one seal +in our day. I remember coming across one on this coast, it was about +six feet long, and had short bristly hair. It used to be said that +seals defended themselves by throwing stones backwards at any one who +came near them."</p> + +<p>"That isn't true, father," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, I never heard of seals having hands, though they have +five toes on each paw. It's a Cornish story. We deal in all kinds of +wonders here. Remember Jack the Giant-killer was born near to the +Land's End."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do let us hear about him, father. We are in the very best place to +listen to stories of giants and fairies," pleaded Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Not to-day, for it's time to go in to dinner; but I will promise to +take you to St. Michael's Mount soon, And then young Dick Nelson will +amuse you, for he knows the history of every giant in Cornwall."</p> + +<p>"That will be better than your telling us, father, for we shall get +another holiday," cried Dorothy, clapping her hands with delight. "I do +so like to go in a boat. We shall row across to the Mount, Judith."</p> + +<p>"But you'll be sure to choose a fine day, father," said Judith; "I like +being on the water very well if it's smooth, but I'm so frightened if +the boat is tossed about."</p> + +<p>"You may trust me, little one. But a fisherman's daughter should not +fear even if the wind blows and the waves beat high. Now let us be +moving, for I do not wish your mother or either of the old folks to +have the trouble of coming to call us in."</p> + +<p>Dinner was just ready when Mr. Trevan and his daughters entered the +cottage, and the little party were very soon cosily sitting at the +round table eating heartily, for the long drive and cold wind had given +them good appetites. The conger pie was pronounced excellent, so were +the pasties and other delicacies provided by Mrs. Trevan.</p> + +<p>Some time after dinner was spent in talking over old times. Each of the +elders of the party had much to say of God's merciful kindness. Then +Aunt Molly proposed a walk to the Armed Knight and the Giant's Rock. +The children were glad to accompany Aunt Molly, and their father and +mother joined them, but the brothers remained in the cottage.</p> + +<p>The Armed Knight is a fine rock which resembles a man in armour. The +face is seen in profile, and the granite is joined so regularly as +to look like a coat of mail. The Giant's Rock is a little farther +inland, and consists of enormous stone boulders eighteen feet long. +On the top of it are three rock basins. One is said to have been the +giant's chair; a smaller stone near goes by the name of his ladle; and +another is called his bed. Fable says that a gigantic race of men once +inhabited Cornwall, who were supposed to amuse themselves by playing +with great boulders of granite. They were said to laugh so loud as +to shake the cliffs asunder; and, if they quarrelled, they fought so +fiercely that the ground was strewn with the rocks they hurled at one +another.</p> + +<p>Of course these old stories and legends gave Dorothy and Judith great +pleasure, and Aunt Molly was so full of anecdote about the giants that +Mr. Trevan was obliged to remind his children that his day's work was +only beginning when he reached home.</p> + +<p>The farewell between the brothers was a touching one. Uncle Thomas +never journeyed so far as Newlyn, and Captain Nance only visited the +Land's End once a year; so that when they took leave of each other, +they felt it might be the last parting on earth.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," said Thomas Nance; "may God keep you, brother William."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>GRANDFATHER'S TALES.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>NOTWITHSTANDING Dorothy's efforts to be good-tempered and industrious, +she did not always succeed. Sometimes she grieved her mother by her +idleness and misbehaviour. The day after the delightful trip, described +in our last chapter, was one of her bad times. Everything seemed to go +wrong at school: her copy was smeared, her sums wouldn't come right, +and after being kept in for some hours by the teacher as a punishment, +she returned home in disgrace.</p> + +<p>When she had been led to see and confess her fault, she said in a +pitiful tone, "Oh, dear! How hard it is to be good. I mean to do +better, but I often get tired of trying, and then I give it up. What +shall I do?"</p> + +<p>"Pray to God," replied her mother, "He will help you."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Captain Nance, "but you must set yourself to work to +overcome your difficulty as well. You must both pray and strive. No one +knows what they can do till they set about it with all their heart. Did +you ever hear of Daniel Gumb, whom the Cornish people call the Mountain +Philosopher?"</p> + +<p>The children said that they had heard something about him, but begged +their grandfather to tell them his history. This he proceeded to do.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image012" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image012.jpg" alt="image012"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>GRANDFATHER'S TALES.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"In the church-town of Lezant, during the early part of the last +century, there lived a poor stone-cutter, of the name of Gumb. He was +a married man, with a large family of children. The eldest, a boy, +was named Daniel, who from a very early age showed great fondness for +study; and though he followed his father's trade, he was delighted when +the day's work was done, so that he might eagerly study such books as +came within his reach. As he grew older, he directed his studies to +mathematics and astronomy. When Daniel Gumb grew into man's estate, he +married, and settled in a little cottage not far from his father; and +now it was necessary for him to work diligently in order to maintain +his wife. He was very industrious, only sometimes mapping stars on the +granite which he was cutting, instead of hewing the big blocks into +shape for building.</p> + +<p>"He made but little progress in his studies, as his family cares +increased, for he had several young ones to feed and clothe, thus +he had no spare time to devote to working out problems. He began +stone-cutting early in the morning, and did not leave off until late at +night; but yet he earned barely enough to keep his wife and children in +the same degree of comfort that his fellow-workmen kept their wives and +children. One thought oppressed him, which may be stated in these words:</p> + +<p>"'I am wasting my time and energies on stone-cutting, when I am +desirous to learn. How can I alter this state of things, and make more +leisure to pursue my studies?'</p> + +<p>"At last he devised a plan. It cost money to maintain his present +position, why should he not seek for some cave where he might live rent +free, and have no taxes to pay?</p> + +<p>"Not very far from Lezant stands Cheesewring, so called, it is +supposed, because it resembles a cheese-press."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that it's small at the bottom and large at the top, like a +wring they use when they make cider?" interrupted Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear. The rocks which form Cheesewring are seven in number, +and stand one on the top the other. The lowest three are only six feet +in diameter, while the upper four vary from ten to twelve feet; and +they look so carelessly heaped up, that when I walked underneath them, +I had a sort of fear lest the top boulders would fall and crush me."</p> + +<p>"Please, before you go on, tell me what is the meaning of the word +diameter," said Judith.</p> + +<p>"The width of anything, right through its centre. You will better +understand the shape of Cheesewring if you think of the enormous +top-heavy toadstool we found in the fields a few mornings ago. It had +a slender stalk, and such a large thick umbrella-shaped top, that we +wondered how it was held up by what appeared a thread in proportion. I +was quite a boy when I first saw Cheesewring, and I thought the great +rocks at the top could be pushed over easily. But children, they've +stood for hundreds of years; those heavy boulders, which look ready to +fall, are so evenly balanced on the small ones below, that many sticks, +nay, iron crowbars, and an army of men would be needed to turn over the +tons and tons of stone."</p> + +<p>"How came they to be so queerly put up?" asked Judith.</p> + +<p>"Some say the old Druids had a hand in it, and that they used to +worship them. I don't know how far this is true; but one thing is +certain, Cornwall has no more remarkable objects than Cheesewring and +the Hurlers, which lie near to the former. But to continue my story: +Daniel Gumb decided that the hill on which Cheesewring stands, was +the place where he was most likely to find his future home. Masses of +granite were heaped up irregularly in every direction, and he felt sure +he would soon be able to fix on a spot which would serve his purpose. +At last he found several rocks which were clustered so close together +as to form a rough kind of cavern, and this he determined to make fit +for habitation. First, he widened the opening, then he enlarged the +inside, and propped up an enormous slab, which formed the roof. When +this was completed, he made a bedroom for himself out of a rock that +was situated a little above; it was by no means a large room, in fact, +only sufficiently spacious for him to squeeze his body into. On this +rock he scratched the date of the year 1735.</p> + +<p>"So soon as he had completed his work, he returned to Lezant to bring +his wife and family to their new home. We have but little record of +Mrs. Gumb, beyond knowing that she followed her husband's fortunes, and +removed to the cave with her family, where she remained until her death.</p> + +<p>"Daniel became a much happier man after this, for he had no longer to +keep pace with his fellow-workmen. He only wanted just money enough +to maintain his wife and children from actual want. The roughest +clothes sufficed; the furniture might wear out and break, it would +need no replacing; the landlord would not come for his rent, nor the +tax-gatherer for his taxes; there were no glass windows to smash; there +was nothing in this half-savage rough life which required him to devote +every hour of the day to stone-cutting, in order to make money. He +could shorten his hours of work, and lengthen his hours of study.</p> + +<p>"Society fled from him. His former friends deemed him mad, and his +relations avoided him. Strangers only visited the recluse and his +family, in order to assure themselves that the story their landlady +had told them about Daniel Gumb was no fiction. But what cared the +mountain philosopher for the world's opinion, or his relations, or his +friends. He could map out the stars, and solve difficult problems at +will; he was his own master, and beyond the pale of society. Just try +and realise the facts of this strange history for yourselves, my dears. +Here was the love of study absorbing every other thought, and making a +man throw up an honest position among his fellow-countrymen, in order +to store his mind with knowledge."</p> + +<p>"But it was not quite right," exclaimed Judith. "I think it was selfish +of him to take his poor wife and children away from their home, and +make them live in a cave."</p> + +<p>Captain Nance looked up and smiled at his little granddaughter. "You've +hit the right nail in that remark of yours, Judith," he said. "I agree +with you; there is something very selfish in Daniel Gumb's conduct. +Only picture his poor wife exposed to the storm and cold of winter, +with her young children, and only granite blocks to screen them. I +remember that when I was young I thought him quite a hero and martyr, +but not now. I've lived beyond that. He would have fulfilled God's +purpose in creating him, so far as I can judge, if he had conquered his +longing for study, because he had dear ones who depended on him for +support. He need not have given up all his learning, but he might have +carried it on as recreation. I think he must have had many sad thoughts +and many misgivings, when his children fell ill and had so few comforts +around them. What availed his problems, or his star-mapping then? Could +they furnish meat and drink for his sick and suffering little ones?"</p> + +<p>"Did any of his children die in the cave?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the old man. "Some were born, and two died there. Don't +mistake my meaning, children, when I speak thus. I honour Daniel Gumb +in one sense; I condemn him in another."</p> + +<p>"You said something about Hurlers," remarked Dorothy, "I can't think +what they are, and yet I've a sort of remembrance you told us a story +about them. Please tell it again."</p> + +<p>"Dorothy, Dorothy, you're always after old traditions," said John +Trevan. "Certainly that which relates to the Hurlers is as strange as +any in our county. They are said to have been Cornish men who came out +one Sunday, and amused themselves by hurling balls about, and because +they broke God's day they were changed into pillars of stone."</p> + +<p>"That tradition teaches us a good lesson," replied Captain Nance. "We +all need to value our Sabbath privileges more than we do; but, alas, +how many people there are in our world who are not thankful for the +rest to the body and refreshment to the soul that the one day in seven +brings."</p> + +<p>"Very true," answered John Trevan, rising from his chair. "I must be +off now, for my spare time is gone. I've just a few more words to +say to Dorothy. You will not easily forget the sorrow you've brought +on yourself, and all of us to-day, my darling, by your naughtiness; +and now I am going to prove how entirely I forgive you, by taking my +little girl and her sister to St. Michael's Mount to-morrow, if the sun +shines. The day after to-morrow you can show you are in earnest about +wishing to do better, by being very attentive at school."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, thank you, father, I will, indeed, I will try hard to +have my lesson right the first time."</p> + +<p>"Very well, I believe you. Now, children, you may come with me down to +the boat if you like."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith gladly accompanied their father, and waited on the +shore until he rowed out to the "Mary Ann," which was anchored in the +bay. They left the sands then, and walked into New Street, where they +watched him until the sails were set, and he was some distance off.</p> + +<p>"Judith, how happy I am," said Dorothy, as they returned home; "I will +pray to be good if you will help me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed I will, Dorothy," answered her sister, affectionately, +"we will help one another, for I want help from you just as much as +you want help from me; and we both need to be helped by our Father in +Heaven."</p> + +<p>Captain Nance had just lighted his pipe when his grandchildren entered +the room.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather," said Dorothy, "let us talk together; there is some time +before we go to bed."</p> + +<p>"What shall we talk about?" asked the old man.</p> + +<p>"Anything you like. Or will you tell us of something that happened when +you were a boy; or about any of your friends; or what is the very best +of all, a grand story of a shipwreck, that you saw?"</p> + +<p>"Then you can bear a sad one, for I'm not much inclined to make you +laugh this evening. It's curious that I've been thinking while you have +been away of that shipwreck which happened off the Brisons nine years +ago. You can't understand, now, my little girls, how an old man lives +in the past; young folks dream of the future, and build their castles; +old folks build no castles, but turn over and over again in their mind +the events which befell them long ago, perhaps in the prime of youth, +or it may be in early manhood. Yet I'm wrong when I say old folks build +no castles, for I dream of one; a beautiful and stately mansion which +hath a sure foundation, its builder and maker is God. I am not afraid +that it will crumble and decay, for—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep +that which I have committed unto Him against that day.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"It's plain sailing, Dorothy, to that mansion. Yes, plain sailing so +far as God has revealed His will to us in His holy word, and by the +teaching of His Spirit. It's we who are to blame when we think we know +better than our Almighty Friend, Father, and King."</p> + +<p>Captain Nance continued to puff the smoke from his pipe, but he made +no further remark, and some minutes elapsed before Dorothy ventured to +say,—</p> + +<p>"Please, grandfather, tell us about the shipwreck."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that I will. I'm glad you brought me back again, for my thoughts +were far away. When I was captain, I steered as directly as I could to +the harbour I had to reach; and now I'm steering just as straight for +Heaven; that's my point, the harbour of refuge in the land of Canaan. +But I mustn't ramble from one thing to another, I'll try and keep to my +subject and tell you about the shipwreck:—</p> + +<p>"In the second week of January, 1851, business took me to your +great-uncle Thomas at Sennen. On the following day he accompanied me +to St. Just on the same business. Eleven years ago I could manage the +journey to the Land's End without much difficulty, but now, as you +know, I soon get weary, and when I bid farewell to my brother, I think +sailing orders will come for him or for me before we meet again. You +have seen Cape Cornwall from the Land's End, and know that it is only +one mile from St. Just. To the left of the Cape lie the Great and +Little Brisons, or Sisters: they are very dangerous rocks, some sixty +or seventy feet high.</p> + +<p>"It was on the morning of the 11th of January that brother Thomas and +I went to St. Just; it had been blowing a strong sou'wester all night, +and the waves dashed on to the shore mountains high. At daybreak a brig +from Liverpool, which was bound to the Spanish Main, struck upon a +reef of rocks between the Great and Little Brisons, and was dashed in +pieces. The crew, which consisted of nine men, and one woman, succeeded +in scrambling on to a ledge, where they would have probably been in +safety had the tide been going out; but it was coming in, and every +moment their position was more terrible. Ah! Children, we on land, +and clear of danger, talk about being prepared; but face to face with +eternity, words are tested, and we are proved as to whether our faith +be firmly anchored in Christ.</p> + +<p>"They stood huddled closely together, trembling and waiting, knowing +the tide came nearer every moment, and that the first strong wave would +cover them. It came only too soon, and ten living people were swept +into deep water. Seven sank to rise no more, and three were brought to +land. But how? First, I will tell you of the one whose life I had no +hand in preserving, and then pass on to the two whom I helped to save. +He was a mulatto, a dark skinned man, who was a good swimmer, and he +managed to grasp a part of the floating wreck on which he scrambled, +and by using a bit of canvas for a sail, and a plank as a paddle, kept +himself floating on the water until he was rescued by fishermen from +Sennen.</p> + +<p>"Brother Thomas and I reached it just when the excitement was at its +highest. The people were standing about in knots talking. We soon +learned the reason.</p> + +<p>"I at once said to my brother, 'I am off to the coast-guard station; it +is an old tar's proper place.'</p> + +<p>"By the aid of the glass I saw a man and woman, who turned out to be +the master mariner and his wife, standing on the Little Brison. They +had been washed on to this rock and managed to keep their footing, for +they had crawled high enough to be out of the reach of the waves.</p> + +<p>"'Can we save them?' 'Can a boat live in such a storm as this?' 'Who +will venture out?' 'It's madness to try!' were some of the remarks we +exchanged, as we stood with the crowd which gathered to watch the two +figures on the Little Brison.</p> + +<p>"We had just decided to man a boat, when we saw the 'Sylvia,' one of +Her Majesty's cutters, ploughing her way round the Land's End. At last +she lowered her boat, and made a desperate attempt to reach the husband +and wife. Again, and again, and yet again, the brave fellows tried to +near the Little Brison, but they failed, the sea was too tremendous for +their efforts to be successful.</p> + +<p>"Thus the afternoon closed, and as daylight faded, we saw the outline +of the two forms standing motionless—for so they appeared to us—on the +rock. It was a terrible picture. Brother Thomas had gone home. As soon +as he had transacted his business, he came to me to ask what I intended +to do.</p> + +<p>"'I cannot leave this spot,' I answered.</p> + +<p>"So I remained at the coast-guard station, for the men there were not +strangers to me, and even if they had been, we were drawn together by a +common sympathy. I should have been untrue to my sailor's colours had I +returned without trying to help these poor creatures.</p> + +<p>"'I am ready to go in the first boat that is sent off,' I said to the +superintendent.</p> + +<p>"I spent the hours of the night in prayer. I cried to my Lord to +interpose and save them. My heart went out in supplication on their +behalf. The Apostle Peter did not cry out more earnestly, 'Save, Lord, +or I perish,' than I did for the lives of those two strangers.</p> + +<p>"When daylight broke, I strained my eyes through the glass, and by +degrees recognised the two forms; but no longer standing upright. They +had cowered down, and but for an uplifted hand every now and then they +gave no signs of life.</p> + +<p>"'Help us to save them, Lord,' I cried, when I caught sight of them +first. 'We cannot stem the fierceness of the storm; we cannot make the +waves obey by saying, "Peace, be still!" but Thou canst be merciful to +us all, and come and save.'</p> + +<p>"The violence of the sea was gradually abating; and I thought it grew +even quieter after my prayer. Directly it was sufficiently light for +us to dare to venture, the superintendent of the station ordered a +boat to be manned, and carrying several rockets with him, he was rowed +out, accompanied by two other boats. I suppose you know that rockets +are used to throw a line, and that they are generally sent off from +the shore; but this was a peculiar case. I went in the second boat. +We could not get within a hundred yards of the Little Brison, and +from this point the first rocket was fired; it failed to reach the +rock-bound prisoners. A second was fired with the same result, but the +third brought the cord close to the man.</p> + +<p>"We watched him breathlessly as he tied the cord round the woman's +waist, but just as she plunged into the water, a terrific swell obliged +us to look to ourselves. The line was secure, and in a few minutes +the poor woman was drawn into the superintendent's boat. She still +breathed, though only for a little while. Whilst in the boat, her +spirit fled to another world. Yes, ere the second line was drawn in, +which guided her husband to the boat in which I was, her sailing orders +had come.</p> + +<p>"It was a dreadful moment for all of us; it has left a deep mark +behind. Come what will, that scene will never pass from my memory; but +it will ever stand out vividly. Even now, as I talk, my pulse almost +stands still, and I grow quite cold.</p> + +<p>"We reached the shore with the living and the dead. The poor man was +tended carefully, and gradually returned to consciousness and life; he +mourned deeply for his wife; they had not been separated since their +wedding day. She had borne the trials of a sailor's life, with her +husband, and he felt so lonely without his dear one at his side to +cheer him. For twenty years she had been his faithful partner."</p> + +<p>"Did she love Jesus, grandfather?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Judith, she had served her Saviour from childhood; and what made +the tie so strong between the husband and wife was that he owed his +conversion, under God, to her. He told me that he was a scoffer when he +married, but that her example had taught him to pray.</p> + +<p>"The captain told us that as they stood in those terrible hours on the +rock, she encouraged and comforted him by repeating these words many +times:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; +thou art Mine . . . I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour . . . Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been +honourable, and I have loved thee.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"'These promises stand as fast now as when they were written,' she +cried; 'He loves us as we stand here helpless and defenceless. Do not +let us forget that, but believe that though He appears to hold out no +hand to save, He does not leave us nor forsake us.'</p> + +<p>"It was astonishing, he said, to see the calm manner in which she +spoke. Both grew quiet and trustful at last, and seemed to hear a still +small voice speaking out of the storm, and saying, 'Peace, be still!'</p> + +<p>"I could have told him that I, too, had heard that voice when I was +passing through deep waters; but it wasn't the right time for me to +speak of my sorrows; it would have been selfish, children, to intrude +them on him when he was smarting so bitterly under his own heavy cross."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith had listened to this story which was filled with so +much sadness several times before: their grandfather had not told it to +them so often as many others, for their mother was too pained to hear +it; it seemed in her own mind to be connected with Willy; he might have +been shipwrecked with no one near to save! But Mrs. Trevan had walked +to Penzance directly after her husband left home, and now returned with +a well-filled basket.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" she asked, noticing the serious faces of the +three.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing of consequence, Philippa," answered Captain Nance. "I've +been telling them something of the past, that's all, and I'm in a +serious mood to-night, so I've been speaking of sad things. Let us +forget them and hear what you've been doing; if I may judge from the +number of parcels in your basket, you have been spending your money +freely, and marketing for the week."</p> + +<p>"You are right, father," answered Mrs. Trevan. "Tea, sugar, pepper, +salt, and many other small articles were wanted. Come, children, and +help me to put them away in their proper places."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>EARLY next morning Dorothy and Judith were down on the sands awaiting +the arrival of their father. The boats were coming in fast, and before +long the "Mary Ann" anchored in the bay, and the crew rowed to land +with a large supply of mackerel.</p> + +<p>"I shall be ready to start for St. Michael's directly I've looked to +the nets," said John Trevan to his little girls.</p> + +<p>It is curious to see with what method the Newlyn fishermen put their +nets out to dry. They pile them upon one of their comrades' shoulders +until the wonder is he can walk at all under such a heavy load. The +burden being taken off with the same precision as it is put on, the +nets come off in perfect order and hang over the iron railing, or lie +along the sands and shingle.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy," said Judith, as they stood watching the process, "I'm glad +we live by the sea, and that father is a fisherman."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Because I seem to feel the life that the Lord Jesus lived with his +disciples so real. We read in the New Testament so much about nets and +fishermen, and they did just the same in those days as now."</p> + +<p>"So they did. I never thought of that before."</p> + +<p>"I have many times. I like to picture to myself the Lord Jesus standing +on the shore, or sitting in a boat preaching; and how surprised Simon, +and Andrew, and James, and John must have been when they were called by +him and told they must be fishers of men. They were doing exactly what +father does; two were casting their nets into the sea, and two were +mending their nets."</p> + +<p>"I'm just ready, children," called John Trevan. "Run to the boat. I +shall follow you in a moment."</p> + +<p>St. Michael's is the principal feature of Mount's Bay. As seen from the +shore it appears like a lofty island rock rising up out of the sea, +with a large castle on its summit. When the tide is at its lowest, +the island is connected with the mainland by a causeway of rocks four +hundred yards long, by which means you reach the old town of Marazion; +the rest of the day it can only be approached by boat.</p> + +<p>It boasts great antiquity. Here it is said the Phoenicians came to buy +tin three thousand years ago, when it was inhabited by traders who +were glad to give this metal in exchange for salt, bronze vessels, +earthenware, and other commodities. In the beginning of the Christian +era, the dwellers on St. Michael's Mount are described by Roman +historians as being civilised people who traded largely with foreign +countries. In later times a Benedictine monastery was reared on the +Mount, and the fame of St. Michael the Archangel, who is described in +an old legend as appearing to some hermits upon one of its crags, drew +many pilgrims from all parts of Britain. Nuns, monks, and soldiers, +occupied the island at intervals until the seventeenth century, when +the monastery was turned into a castle, and Charles I. sojourned there +for a brief space to encourage the sturdy miners of Cornwall to aid him +in the fight against Cromwell. About the year 1660 the island was sold +to the St. Aubyns, and remains in the possession of that family to the +present day.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image013" style="max-width: 35.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image013.jpg" alt="image013"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT AND BAY.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The bay was calm enough to satisfy even Judith. There was not a cloud +to be seen in the blue sky, and the bright sunlight lit up the pretty +town of Penzance with its curving shore and background of hills, the +old town of Marazion, Cuddan Point, and far away to the Lizard.</p> + +<p>There is a little fishing village at the foot of the Mount, and thither +John Trevan was bound, for he was anxious to consult his friend Richard +Nelson about some matter connected with herring fishing, which begins +after the mackerel season is over. He pulled straight to the stone +steps in the harbour, and saw to his satisfaction that the very man he +wanted was standing on the pier talking to a comrade.</p> + +<p>After the bustle of landing was over, and the first greetings had been +exchanged, Mr. Trevan asked: "Is Dick at home? My girls want a run with +him over the Mount."</p> + +<p>"He is here to answer for himself," said his father as a handsome boy +of fifteen joined them, and shook hands warmly with Dorothy and Judith, +who were old friends of his.</p> + +<p>"How jolly to see you," he exclaimed. "You couldn't have come a better +day. I'm going to be at home."</p> + +<p>"Take the lassies to your mother," said Mr. Nelson, "and ask her to +have some dinner ready for us at one o'clock."</p> + +<p>The village at the base of St. Michael's Mount is surrounded on +the land side by a wall of granite; a gate at one end admits its +inhabitants and visitors to the Mount. The fishermen lay their nets out +to dry on, the sloping turf just without the wall, and a little farther +up is the well which supplies the villagers with fresh water. Most of +the cottages look over the bay, but a few face the Mount, and it was +to one of these Dick led the way. He stopped at a pretty little house, +with a tiny garden at its side, and a fine old myrtle tree climbing up +its walls and peeping into the gabled windows. A good-looking woman +was standing outside-washing clothes in a large tub. She was delighted +to see the little girls, and dried her hands hastily before she kissed +them.</p> + +<p>"How did you come, my dears?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Father brought us," said Dorothy. "He wanted to see Mr. Nelson, and +gave us the treat."</p> + +<p>"You must stay and have some dinner," said Mrs. Nelson.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother, they're going to stay," replied Dick. "Father says he'll +be in at one. We're going up the Mount now."</p> + +<p>"That suits me exactly, for in a couple of hours I shall have cleared +up and be quite ready for you."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The ascent to the old castle is an easy one. The rock on which it is +built is about two hundred feet high, and on the east and west sides of +the cliff terminates abruptly, and the shore can only be reached by a +flight of steps cut in the stone.</p> + +<p>"Can we go inside the castle to-day?" asked Dorothy. "We've never seen +the rooms, though we've been up here so many times. Mother said we +might go in, if you can manage for us; she's given me some money for +the housekeeper."</p> + +<p>"All right," answered Dick.</p> + +<p>They mounted the stone steps and rang the bell, which was answered by +a respectable woman who permitted them to enter, and pointed out the +various objects of interest.</p> + +<p>The hall, which was the refectory of the monks, and the Benedictine +chapel, claims the most notice; but that which had the greatest charm +for the children, was a vault discovered some years ago when the chapel +was undergoing repairs, in which the bones of a full-grown man were +discovered. It is supposed that he was bricked up there and left to +die. Dick and Dorothy entered the vault, but Judith was too timid to +accompany them. Dorothy would also have liked to go to the top of the +church tower and sit in what is popularly called St. Michael's chair, +but the wind was so high the housekeeper would not permit it.</p> + +<p>"There's plenty of time before you," she said good-humouredly to +Dorothy. "You may have another ten years on your shoulders before you +need climb to St. Michael's chair; it's not for such as you, but young +brides, or old ones for that matter, who are disappointed if they don't +sit in the chair before their husbands."</p> + +<p>"But why?" asked Judith.</p> + +<p>"You surely know," said Dick. "Every one in Cornwall has heard of St. +Michael's chair."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, we never have," replied Dorothy; "do tell us about it. I only +know that St. Michael's chair is in the church tower, but not why it is +called so."</p> + +<p>"Because the wife is said to be the master if she sits in the chair +before her husband; so you see, my dear, you may wait many years before +you need to mount into the tower," said the housekeeper.</p> + +<p>"I learnt the story about St. Michael's chair at school in a piece of +poetry," said Dick. "I can't think how it is you've never heard of it. +It begins like this:—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"'Merrily, merrily rung the bells,<br> + The bells of St. Michael's tower,<br> + When Richard Penlake, and Rebecca his wife,<br> + Arrived at St. Michael's door.<br> + <br> +"'Up to the tower Rebecca ran,<br> + Round, and round, and round;<br> + 'Twas a giddy sight to stand a-top,<br> + And look upon the ground.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"And did she sit in the chair?" asked Judith.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the bells rang so loudly, that the chair rocked, and out she +fell."</p> + +<p>"Is it a real chair?" questioned Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear; only a stone, and by no means a comfortable one to sit +on; and why it is supposed to be endowed with such gifts it is hard to +say," replied the housekeeper.</p> + +<p>The young people thanked her for her kindness, as they left the castle. +They rambled about for some time and gathered flowers, then they +watched the rabbits skipping and running hither and thither among the +furze. At last Dick suggested that they should go down the steps to a +sheltered place, where they could sit and talk.</p> + +<p>"Yes, do," said Dorothy; "for we want to hear from you the story of +'Jack the Giant-killer.'"</p> + +<p>"Who told you that I knew it?"</p> + +<p>"Father. Now begin at once, Dick."</p> + +<p>"I will directly we've found a comfortable rock. I think I'd better +take you to my summer-house."</p> + +<p>They had to scramble over many, large boulders, until they reached one +which was sheltered by a higher rock behind it; this Dick called his +summer-house. It was close to the shore, and a warm snug place to sit +in.</p> + +<p>"Before I begin my story I must ask you one question, and I wish Judith +to answer it," said Dick. "Do you believe that Jack the Giant-killer +was a real man?"</p> + +<p>"No, of course, not," she answered. "It's only one of the old Cornish +tales with no truth in it."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image014" style="max-width: 35.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image014.jpg" alt="image014"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE ON THE COAST OF CORNWALL.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"Very well, as that's settled, I'm ready to tell you all I know +about him. Many years ago a giant inhabited the Mount, who was named +Cormoran. He was eighteen feet high, three yards round, and a very +fierce-looking fellow. He lived quite alone, and allowed no one to +come near him. When he felt hungry, he waded through the water on to +the shore, and went to one of the villages to steal cattle. He was so +strong that he could carry six cows on his back at once, and a large +sheep between his finger and thumb. Of course, all the people round +very much disliked this giant, and felt it was hard to lose their +cattle; but yet they were too much frightened of him to venture to show +fight when he appeared.</p> + +<p>"Near to the Land's End lived a rich farmer, who had one son, called +Jack, and he determined to win a name for himself by getting rid of +Cormoran. He thought for many days and weeks before he could make up +his mind what to do, and in that time he tried his hand on Thunderbore, +a huge fellow, with flaming eyes and long hair, that hung over his +shoulders like curled snakes. He succeeded in killing this giant, who +lived very near to his father's farm, though the books don't say how he +managed it, but perhaps in the same way that he killed Cormoran.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, soon after the death of Thunderbore, Master Jack +determined to dig a pit on the spot where the giant always set his foot +when he landed. He covered it with a stone, which he poised so cleverly +that it only required a little touch to make it fall into the deep +hole. The plan succeeded perfectly. Cormoran came out of his cave one +day to seek for provisions. He waded through the sea, and set his foot +on the stone: it gave way, and he fell in, and was so hurt that he lay +moaning until he died. Of course Jack became a great man, and he killed +a good many more Cornish giants. So ends my story. Now, Judith, tell me +what you have been thinking about, for you've been looking a deal too +grave."</p> + +<p>"Just this, Dick," answered the little girl. "You know the Bible +contains a story about a giant, and a boy who killed him, and I thought +how grand it was compared to yours; and it's all true, too, every word +of it."</p> + +<p>"Tell it to me, and then I'll give you my opinion," said Dick.</p> + +<p>Judith hesitated for a moment, and whispered to her sister.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, do," answered Dorothy aloud. "Dick," she added, "Judith wrote +a history of David and Goliath for teacher, only last Sunday, and she's +got it with her."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image015" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image015.jpg" alt="image015"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>JUDITH READS HER STORY OF THE GIANT.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"That's capital; let me hear it."</p> + +<p>"It isn't quite all my own," said truthful Judith; "teacher altered one +or two things—not many. I wasn't allowed to look at my Bible after I +began to write, but I read the history over a great many times so that +I might remember it."</p> + +<p>"And she had a prize because it was done the best in the class," +exclaimed Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"That's first-rate," cried Dick. "Don't lose any time, Judith."</p> + +<p>The little girl took a roll of paper out of her pocket, and read thus:</p> + +<p>"In the days of King Saul, the Israelites fought against the +Philistines, and both armies drew up ready for battle one day. The +Philistines had a great giant on their side, called Goliath of Gath, +who was about eleven feet high, and wore a helmet of brass on his head. +He was armed with a coat of mail; the staff of his spear was like a +weaver's beam; and he had a man going before him to carry his shield.</p> + +<p>"He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said, 'Why are ye come +out to set your battle in array. Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants +of Israel? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he +be able to fight with me, then we will be your servants; but if I kill +him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. I defy the armies of +Israel this day.'</p> + +<p>"King Saul and all Israel were frightened when they heard these words, +for they had no one who dare meet this giant in single combat. For +forty days he came and presented himself before them, and they grew +more and more afraid.</p> + +<p>"In Bethlehem Judah there lived a man named Jesse, who had eight sons. +The three eldest followed King Saul to battle, and the youngest fed his +father's sheep. He was called David, and had a beautiful countenance; +and God loved him, and was with him. One morning his father sent him +to the camp with some corn for his brethren, and ten cheeses for the +captain of their thousand.</p> + +<p>"David found the two armies drawn up ready for battle, so he ran into +the midst of the Israelites and talked to his brothers. While he was +hearing how they fared, the great giant came out and spoke the same +words, which frightened the men of Israel so much that they fled away +from him.</p> + +<p>"David saw all this, and asked the men who stood near him, what should +be done to the one who killed the Philistine, and took away the +reproach from Israel?</p> + +<p>"'The king will make him very rich,' they replied, 'and give him his +daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.'</p> + +<p>"When Eliab, David's eldest brother, heard him ask this question he was +very angry, and said, 'Why didst thou come here? who has charge of thy +sheep? Thou hast only come to see the battle.'</p> + +<p>"But David answered, 'There is a reason for my coming.' So he turned +from his brother and asked another, 'Who is this Philistine, that he +should defy the armies of the living God?' Again he received the same +answer; and the people went and told Saul his words.</p> + +<p>"The king sent immediately for David. The young man entered into his +presence, and said boldly, 'Let no man's heart fail because of this +giant; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.'</p> + +<p>"To this the king answered, 'Thou art not able to fight with him, for +thou art a youth.'</p> + +<p>"Then David told Saul that a lion and bear had come one day and taken +away a lamb out of his flock, and that he went after them, and slew +them. And he said that he was not afraid of the great giant, who had +defied the armies of the living God, for the Lord would deliver him +into his hand.</p> + +<p>"When Saul heard these words, he answered, 'Go, and the Lord be with +thee.' The king clothed David in armour, but the latter said, 'I cannot +go with these, for I have not proved them.' So he put them off, and +took his staff in his hand, and went to the brook, where he chose five +smooth stones, which he put into his shepherd's bag; and with his sling +in his hand, he drew near the Philistine.</p> + +<p>"As soon as Goliath looked on David, he scorned him, and asked, 'Am I a +dog, that thou comest to me with stones? I will give thy flesh to the +fowls of the air and the beast of the field.'</p> + +<p>"David answered, Thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and a +shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God +of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day the Lord will +deliver thee into my hand, and all the earth will know there is a God +in Israel.' So Goliath came nearer, and David ran to meet him, and put +his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and smote the +Philistine in his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth."</p> + +<p>"Well done, Judith," said Dick. "I declare I couldn't do it so well, +and I am two years older than you are."</p> + +<p>"Which story do you like best, yours or mine?" asked Judith.</p> + +<p>"Why, yours to be sure, because I know it's true. Besides, just think +of the beautiful way in which it's written in the Bible. I never get +tired of reading about David, and often envy him."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image016" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image016.jpg" alt="image016"></figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"Now let's settle why we should like to be David," said Dorothy. +"Supposing you say first, Dick, as you are the oldest."</p> + +<p>"Because," answered the boy, thinking for a moment, "because I should +like to have been the one to kill the giant, when the whole army was +afraid of him."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Dorothy, "because I should like to have been as much +thought of as David was, and get into the king's favour."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Judith, speaking in a low voice, "because God was with +him, and helped him to kill the giant."</p> + +<p>"You've hit on the right reason, Judith," exclaimed Dick. "You always +were good. I don't believe you've half the temptations to be naughty +that Dorothy and I have."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Don't say that. Nobody knows exactly what the other is like," +replied Judith.</p> + +<p>"That's true," answered Dick. "Still I can't help thinking you are very +good, Judith. Now let us go back; I have to fetch mother some water +before dinner."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>John Trevan and his daughters returned to Newlyn early in the +afternoon, for the former was too busy to be longer absent. The sea was +a good deal rougher than when they were going, but not enough to make +Judith nervous. She and Dorothy chattered to their father all the way +home. They told him of their morning's conversation.</p> + +<p>He agreed with Judith that a fisherman's life often reminded him of the +Lord Jesus and His disciples.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said, "that the time when the Master stood by the lake +of Gennesaret, and the people pressed upon Him to hear, so that He was +obliged to enter into a boat, is my favourite scene. If you remember, +our Lord commanded Simon to thrust out a little from the land, and sat +down and taught the people in the ship. And after He had done speaking, +He ordered Simon to launch out into the deep, and let down his nets; +and the disciples answered,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing: +nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude, and +the net broke. How often I have pictured this to myself when we have +been hauling in a great draught, or have toiled for hours and caught +nothing."</p> + +<p>Just as John Trevan finished speaking they came near enough to the +shore for the rope to be thrown out. It was caught by one of the crew +belonging to the "Mary Ann."</p> + +<p>"We want your opinion, captain," he said.</p> + +<p>"I'm here," answered John. "Go home, children, and do not wait for me."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith were soon sitting at their grandfather's side, +giving him and their mother a full account of the day's proceedings. +Among other things they spoke of St. Michael's chair, and said they +wondered they had never heard it was so famous.</p> + +<p>"Just as well not, little ones," said Captain Nance. "We've no +bickering for mastery here. Your father and mother have each their own +place to fill, and they seek help from One who is able to uphold their +footsteps, and teach them how to govern themselves. That's the secret +of true happiness in married life: After all, St. Michael's chair +and the charm it is said to possess, is only one of the old Cornish +traditions."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>WILLY'S BIRTHDAY.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>DOROTHY won golden opinions from her parents and teacher next day. Her +lessons were so well said, and her sums so correctly done, that Miss +White sent a message home by Judith, expressing how satisfied she was +with her pupil.</p> + +<p>"You're very happy to-day, Dorothy," said her father; "I can see it in +all your movement, and your face is beaming."</p> + +<p>"Yes, father, I am very happy. I tried hard not to be idle this +morning. I was just a tiny bit sorry that I had to go to school, but I +asked God to help me to act properly, and Judith was so kind; and now +I'm so glad to think that Miss White is satisfied to-day."</p> + +<p>"You can't have a better helper than your Heavenly Father," said +Captain Nance. "He'll bring you to the port at last. Don't forget what +I told you about His being our guide. I've borne the battles and the +breezes of life long enough to know where to find safe anchorage."</p> + +<p>Dorothy not only merited her teacher's praise on that day, but on other +days that followed. She tried to conquer herself, and succeeded as she +had never done before, because she endeavoured to think of these words +at all times,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Thou God seest me."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>She told Judith she meant that verse to be her birthday text.</p> + +<p>"And it shall be mine too," answered her sister.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The month of April wore away, and May set in. The hedges round Newlyn +grew greener every day; the trees came out in full leaf, the ferns +waved in wild luxuriance, and the banks were blue with hyacinths.</p> + +<p>The mackerel season ends in the middle of May, and the fishermen employ +the weeks that intervene before the pilchard season commences, by +fishing for herrings off the coast of Ireland.</p> + +<p>The "Mary Ann" left Newlyn late one afternoon in the third week of May.</p> + +<p>"I shall think of you on Willy's birthday," John said to his wife, just +before starting; "you'll bear up for my sake, Philippa?"</p> + +<p>"I will try to," she answered; "but I must remember my boy as of +old. Nine years, John, on the 8th of next month, since he left us. I +think of him as a boy still, but if he's living he's a young man of +twenty-four. How happy he would have made us had he turned out well; he +would have helped you in so many ways."</p> + +<p>"So he would, wife, and God only knows how gladly I should welcome him +home. I'm always changing my opinion about him; sometimes I doubt much +if we ever see him again in this world, and then again I feel sure he +will return. God grant that we shall meet him in heaven, if we never +see him here."</p> + +<p>"Father is the only one who seems clear about his being alive, and +coming home; and I find myself dwelling on the old man's words."</p> + +<p>"Try not to, Philippa, it makes the uncertainty harder to bear. Leave +the matter in the Lord's hands; and now let us join grandfather and the +children."</p> + +<p>When all was in readiness for departure, John bade adieu to his wife +and daughters, who, with Captain Nance, accompanied him to the harbour. +He shook hands with his father-in-law, and said, "God bless and keep +you."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, my son," answered the veteran; "if my sailing orders come +before you return, don't grieve for me; remember I shall have won the +prize, and my poor weather-beaten bark will be safely landed."</p> + +<p>The "Mary Ann" was not the only fishing vessel starting from Newlyn +that night. There were five others. Herring fishing has been a source +of great profit since the year 1826, when two boats left in the month +of May for the coast of Ireland. Their success was so great that others +followed, and since then a good trade has been carried on, and the +income of the fishermen greatly increased thereby.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious afternoon for starting; the wind was so brisk that +the "Mary Ann" was soon out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Now, children, come home," said Mrs. Trevan; "see how hard you can +work at school for the next six weeks, and then work of another kind +begins."</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother, pilchards for ever!" cried Dorothy. "How I like the fun."</p> + +<p>"Fun you call it; hard work I say," replied Mrs. Trevan. "What say you, +Judith?"</p> + +<p>"I think like Dorothy, mother, it's good fun; but then we don't do so +much as you do."</p> + +<p>"This year you must put your shoulders to the wheel," said +Captain Nance; "when girls enter their teens, they enter on new +responsibilities."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to work very hard, grandfather?" asked Judith.</p> + +<p>"I shall try how my old bark will bear the strain. The bolts are +dropping out fast, child, but so long as the planks hold together I +shall work."</p> + +<p>Judith did not answer her grandfather; she only pressed the hand she +held to show she understood the meaning of his words.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The days rolled on rapidly until Willy's birthday dawned, and Philippa, +as was her custom, went out early in the morning to pray.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy, wake up," said Judith, "I hear mother stirring, and this is +Willy's birthday. I've just thought that as we've turned thirteen we +are old enough to comfort her. Let's go up Paul Hill and tell her we +should like to pray with her for Willy."</p> + +<p>"Do you think mother will like it?" questioned Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure she will. She'll feel that we think of her in her sorrow."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan sat alone on Paul Hill. It was still very early in the +morning, and no sound disturbed the stillness, save the twittering of +the birds. Her eyes wandered far, far away.</p> + +<p>"Will he ever come?" she said aloud.</p> + +<p>And then the question merged itself into thoughts of her first-born, +her darling, the boy who had loved her in spite of his naughtiness; +but who had loved his own will and his own ways so much better that he +could descend so low as to steal from his mother, and leave the home +without a parting word. Was he in want? And would the want make him +bethink himself of the fisherman's cottage, and the love and tenderness +which had gathered round him there; and would he remember his early +training and the God against whom he had sinned, but who would show +mercy, and was ready to welcome him back to His heart; who had a robe +waiting for him with which He would replace the rags; who had a ring in +token of owning His son once more in the family; who had shoes to cover +his feet that were sore, and ached from walking over dusty roads and +sharp stones? Did Willy feel, did he know that there would be joy in +heaven if he would arise and come to his Father?</p> + +<p>At last she buried her head in her hands and prayed for strength to +have faith in God, and to believe that a wise and loving Father was +busy about her life, and knew all about her heart-sickness, and did not +forsake her. She felt a quiet calm stealing over her as she repeated +these words aloud,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through +the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the +fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon +thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Her face was still hidden, when a gentle touch on either shoulder made +her look up, to find her daughters at her side.</p> + +<p>"Mother, forgive us, and don't be vexed because we've come," said +Dorothy; "but we think we're old enough to help you to bear your +sorrow."</p> + +<p>Philippa's eyes glistened through her tears. "My darlings!" was all +that she could answer.</p> + +<p>They sat down, one on each side of her, and talked about their brother +for some time. Then the conversation grew more personal; and Dorothy +and Judith spoke of the longing they had to live holy lives, and how +often they failed in little things; and how they daily read God's book +together, and tried to realise the time when Jesus spoke to publicans +and sinners, and walked and lived on earth.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan was beguiled by these loving confidences, and was filled +with thankfulness to God that even her Dorothy, whose quick temper and +hasty words had so often troubled her, seemed so earnest in pursuit of +the things which make for our everlasting welfare.</p> + +<p>"Now mother, dear, let us go for a little walk," said Dorothy. "Come +with us to Paul Church, it will do you good."</p> + +<p>"Not now, we must return to grandfather; but I promise you that we will +have an early tea this afternoon, and walk over the hill later."</p> + +<p>"That will be delightful," said Judith. "And if we can only get +grandfather to come too, we shall enjoy it all the more."</p> + +<p>Captain Nance was quite ready to walk to Paul Church after tea. The +ascent was rather trying to the old man, but he enjoyed the scene +nevertheless. Mrs. Trevan lingered for a few moments on the spot where +her daughters had surprised her in the morning, and her face grew +anxious; but again her children interfered, they would have her admire +the furze which was out in full blossom. The air was redolent with its +sweetness; it grew in the hedges, on waste patches of land, about the +shaft of a mine long since abandoned, at the edge of the cliff; by the +road side, in fact, in all directions the eye fell on bright masses of +yellow.</p> + +<p>Every step up Paul Hill revealed a broader expanse of sea, and gave +them a wider view of Mount's Bay. When they reached the top, Captain +Nance sat down.</p> + +<p>"This mounting makes my old engine puff a little," he said. "Give me a +few minutes' rest, and I shall be ready to march again."</p> + +<p>Newlyn and Mousehole, a little fishing village beyond, form part of +the parish of Paul. Its church is celebrated for its old granite tower +which bears the date of 821. It is all that remains of the edifice, +which was burned by the Spaniards in 1585. They landed at Mousehole +and came over the hill to Paul. It is said they met some women laden +with wood and furze, and compelled them to deposit their bundles in the +porch of the church, and by setting fire to it and opening the doors +they created such a draught of air that the building was soon in flames.</p> + +<p>In the churchyard lie the remains of Dolly Pentreath, who died in +December, 1777, at the age of one hundred and two. She was the last +person who could converse in the Cornish language, which was very much +like the Welsh. The people of Cornwall had their own dialect once, and +up to the reign of Henry VIII., many men and women could not understand +a word of English.</p> + +<p>Dolly was the daughter of a fisherman who lived at Mousehole. At twelve +years old she used to go to Penzance to sell fish, speaking the Cornish +language, which many of the inhabitants could not even then understand. +She was twenty years old before she learned English. Towards the close +of her life she was very poor, and lived by begging, fortune-telling, +and gabbling Cornish.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards and Dolly Pentreath formed the topics of conversation +between Captain Nance and his grandchildren.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan said but little, she occupied herself with her knitting and +her thoughts. She was roused from her reverie by hearing her father +trying to teach Dorothy and Judith the few words of Cornish he knew.</p> + +<p>"Dew gena why," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Dew gena why," repeated Judith.</p> + +<p>"Now how long will you remember that these words mean in Cornish what +we understand when we say 'good-bye'?" asked their grandfather.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I shall forget them by to-morrow. What do you think, mother?" +asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"That you ought to have a better memory."</p> + +<p>"I'll make a promise to one, or both of you," said Captain Nance, "If +you say 'Dew gena why' to me before you go to school to-morrow, you +shall have the best bun to be bought at the pastry cook's in Penzance."</p> + +<p>"You will have to spend your money, father," replied Mrs. Trevan. "I +see by the bright faces before me that both Dorothy and Judith mean to +earn a bun."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan was right. The next evening Captain Nance and his +grandchildren walked from Newlyn through the lanes to Penzance, which +is about a mile distant, and when they returned about an hour later, +each of the little girls had a paper bag which contained a large bun, +and Captain Nance was out of pocket by the transaction.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>MIDSUMMER EVE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>JOHN TREVAN returned on the 22nd of June, and found his dear ones well +and happy. He had had a successful cruise and was some pounds richer +than when he started.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith were watching anxiously for their father, because +when he was at home, they joined in the gala doings on the Eve of St. +John, and went to the fair on Midsummer day. It sometimes happened that +Mr. Trevan was later in returning, but this year he was just in time, +to the children's great delight.</p> + +<p>One of the old customs that yet remain in Cornwall is the annual +celebration of the Eve of St. John. It is thought to be a remnant of +idolatry, and to have been introduced into Britain by the Phœnician +traders who worshipped the sun; be this true or not, it is certain that +the summer solstice has been celebrated for a long period of time by +the lighting of fires.</p> + +<p>When it grows dusk, tar barrels and bonfires blaze in every direction, +at Penzance, Marazion, St. Michael's Mount, Newlyn, and Mousehole: the +whole of Mount's Bay is thus illuminated. The young men and maidens +resort to Penzance in the evening from the country, carrying torches, +which they swing about in all directions: fireworks are let off, and +the revels conclude by the lads and lassies forming themselves into a +line and running through the street calling out "an eye, an eye!" And +thus play the game generally known as "thread the needle."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan was rather nervous about her children going into the midst +of the confusion, but her husband overruled her fears, and started to +Penzance with his daughters on St. John's Eve.</p> + +<p>Captain Nance grew young again when he saw the fires blazing: he +fancied he was a boy running hither and thither with his torch, and +leading the line of young people through the streets of Penzance. +He watched them burn out and then he returned to his arm-chair and +netting, and finally fell asleep.</p> + +<p>"We've never enjoyed ourselves so much before," said Dorothy, opening +the door at eleven o'clock, and thus rousing her grandfather. "The game +isn't over yet, but father thought we'd better come home."</p> + +<p>"I think so too," answered Mrs. Trevan, who was busy with her +needlework. "But how tired you look, John," she added.</p> + +<p>"No wonder," he replied, laughing. "Your daughters run so fast, and I +had to keep up with them lest I should miss them in the crowd."</p> + +<p>"You run quite as fast as we do, father," said Judith.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I do, and once I could run faster, but it makes my legs ache. +I've been chasing you through the streets of Penzance for one hour, and +am almost stunned with hearing 'an eye, an eye!' shouted on every side +of me. But I am really proud of our young people, for with all their +enjoyment there is no rudeness nor rough behaviour."</p> + +<p>"That speaks well for them," remarked Captain Nance. "It was just the +same in my day, and we rarely heard of an accident happening."</p> + +<p>"Now, children, be off to bed," said Mrs. Trevan. "Are you going +holiday-making with them to-morrow?" she asked her husband.</p> + +<p>"We shall see," he replied. "At any rate, I am not going out fishing. +I've an idea, wife," he said, when his little daughters had left the +room. "I've come back richer than I've ever been before, and I'm +inclined to hire a cart to-morrow and drive you all to the Logan Rock. +The children have long wished to see it. What say you, father?"</p> + +<p>"That I shall be delighted to go," said the old man; "it's many years +since I was there, and it's one of the grandest sights in all our +county. I should like to know where you can find sixty-five tons of +granite to rock like a child's cradle. I ought, perhaps, to say that it +used to rock like a child's cradle, for since it was tumbled over and +set up again, it doesn't move so well as it did."</p> + +<p>"Then it's settled that we go," replied John. "We've none of us been to +the rock for many a day, and I'm sure we shall all enjoy seeing it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I shall," answered Mrs. Trevan, "and what's more, and best of +all, is the outing with you, and the children, and father."</p> + +<p>"I never thought to see the rocking stone again," said Captain Nance. +"How wonderful it is that I have lived to my great age, after having +such a rough life of it."</p> + +<p>"God knows what is best for us all, father, and it's been a great joy +to have you here," replied Philippa, "and I like to think of you as +ready to live if He wills, but not afraid to die if He wills."</p> + +<p>"Afraid, my child! No, thank God, I'm not afraid," answered Captain +Nance, emphatically. "Who dare be afraid with a loving Father at +the helm! I'm only waiting for my sailing orders. I'm ready to say +to-night, or to-morrow, or this moment,—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"'Farewell, poor world, I must be gone,<br> + Thou art no home nor rest for me,<br> + I'll take my staff and travel on,<br> + Till I a better world may see.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Good night, my son and daughter."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The far-famed Logan Rock is situated on a magnificent headland of +granite. It is approached through a narrow pass, on reaching the top of +which the last rampart of rocks is seen, on which the stone is poised.</p> + +<p>The road from Newlyn to Treryn, the nearest village to the Logan Rock, +is a good one, and for some distance the same as to the Land's End. The +cart was left at the village inn, which takes its name from the stone; +and a walk of a mile through the fields brought the party to the shore.</p> + +<p>"There is some climbing for us to do," said Captain Nance. "I think I +shall want your help, John; that is, if Philippa and the children can +take care of themselves."</p> + +<p>"I can take care of myself, grandfather," answered Dorothy, "and Judith +can go with mother. Did you see how well I got over the hedges alone?"</p> + +<p>In spite of Dorothy's boastful way of speaking, she fell and grazed her +arm; but not severely, only enough to make her more careful, and to +remind her that it was better to act quietly than to talk grandly.</p> + +<p>At length the summit of the pass was reached, and then the grandeur of +the scene burst upon them: they sat on a slab of granite, and looked on +to the rampart of rocks where the famous Logan Stone rests.</p> + +<p>An old man approached them and touched his hat. "Would you like to see +the stone move?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes; after we've rested a little, you shall take us right up to it, +and we'll see if we can make it rock," replied Mr. Trevan.</p> + +<p>"It 'll never rock again properly, sir; it used to rock easily enough, +but since it was tumbled over eight and thirty years ago, it's never +gone as well since. I could move it then with one arm, but now I have +to push with my shoulders against it. That stone rolling over was a +sight not to be forgotten in a man's life."</p> + +<p>"Did you see it go?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image017" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image017.jpg" alt="image017"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>THE LOGAN ROCK.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"Yea, little miss; I was one of the two Cornish men here when the +lieutenant came who did it. He was a nice young man, with all his +faults, and uncommonly sorry when he found how grieved and angry he had +made everybody about here. His name was Goldsmith, and he commanded +a revenue cutter which was stationed off our coast. He'd heard that +it was said in Cornwall no one could upset the Logan Stone, though it +rocked so well.</p> + +<p>"He'd nothing better to do, so he came over here with some of his +picked men, armed with levers. He ordered them to be put under the +stone, gave the word of command, and over it rolled. Fortunately it +was saved from falling into the water, or on to the ground, because it +stuck in yon crevice between the rocks, just below the slab from which +it was started. My friend and I were struck dumb, and enough to make +us, to see the beautiful stone, which weighs nigh upon seventy tons, +which all the world flocks to see, and which some say was put here by +the Druids, thrown over for idle sport.</p> + +<p>"When we came to ourselves, we made for the Lord of the Manor, and told +him what we'd seen. I assure you that day there was quite a panic among +the people of Treryn; it was just as if a plague had broken out, or +something awful had happened; and no wonder, for we've little enough to +depend upon, and to have the bread taken out of our mouths was indeed +hard, for who'd come to see the Logan Stone sticking between two rocks. +The matter wasn't let alone. Lieutenant Goldsmith was reported to the +Admiralty; and they ordered him to put back the stone, and said they'd +lend him all that he wanted for the purpose from Plymouth Dockyard. The +week of work that followed before it was done will ever be remembered +by those who had a hand in it, and even the women and children looked +on. Strong planks were fixed about the Logan Stone, chains were +fastened round it, pulleys were rigged, and capstans were manned. At +last it moved a little, then it began to swing about in the air, then +it was heaved up, and by degrees dropped down where you see it; and +then we all fell on our knees and thanked God."</p> + +<p>"What became of the lieutenant?" asked Judith.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the people saw that the old stone was back, their curses +turned into blessings; but, poor young man, it was a lifelong sorrow +for him. Putting it back cost him a lot of money, and he was only clear +of all his debts just before he died. And now follow me, and I'll make +it move."</p> + +<p>The stone moved at the old man's push, but Mr. Trevan found that though +he put forth all his strength, he produced no perceptible motion. Truly +the days of rocking for the Logan Stone are well-nigh gone, but the +wild beauty of its surroundings remains untouched, and fills the mind +with awe and wonder.</p> + +<p>"Which do you like best, the Land's End or the Logan Rock, Judith?" +asked her grandfather that evening.</p> + +<p>"The Logan Rock," she replied; "it's far, far grander."</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear; I agree with you. I felt it so grand, I was quite inclined +to sit down and cry like a child. The waves were beating up wildly, and +all around me spoke of a great God. I've never been so touched before; +I can't think why it was; for an old tar should have a strong heart and +a steady hand."</p> + +<p>"I love you all the more for having a soft heart, grandfather. I dare +say you were filled with wonder and thankfulness that the God who made +the beautiful rocks was a loving Father, and cared for you above all +the great things He has made."</p> + +<p>"No, that's not it, exactly, little one. I fancy I know why I felt so +sad. You'll know, too, if you live to be old. I sometimes ache for +my clearance to come, and long to get my sailing orders; and when +I witness such beautiful sights as I saw to-day, I want to take my +departure to the land beyond Jordan."</p> + +<p>"Do you think Heaven will be very beautiful, grandfather?" asked +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, child; it must be more beautiful than anything that we can +imagine. I try to picture to myself what the beloved disciple saw; +but oh, children, I can't, and so the old tar will wait on patiently, +knowing that—</p> + +<p class="letter"> + "'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart +of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.'"<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>PILCHARD FISHING.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>ADJOINING John Trevan's house was a building we have not yet noticed. +It is called a pilchard cellar. Before we describe it, we must explain +what a pilchard is like, and why it should need a cellar.</p> + +<p>Pilchards are a little smaller than herrings, closely resembling them +in size. They are not found swimming about alone, or even in dozens; +they rather choose the companionship of hundreds, thousands, and +millions of their kind.</p> + +<p>In winter they live in the deep sea, but when spring comes they desire +change, so they rise nearer to the surface of the water, and form +themselves into small shoals; the small shoals grow into larger ones, +and at last, the large ones unite into one mighty host, led by the +pilchard king. This army comes on past the Scilly Isles about the end +of July, and for the next four months, the Cornish fishermen, their +wives and children, are principally employed in catching, curing, and +packing pilchards.</p> + +<p>They are not kept for home consumption, but are salted, put into +barrels, and sent to the Mediterranean; Italy and Spain affording the +best market for them.</p> + +<p>John Trevan rented a pilchard cellar. It was a square building, open +in the middle, with a sloping roof round the four sides, which was +supported by pillars of rough granite. It had gutters into which the +oil ran from the fish when they lay in salt, and from the gutters, by +reason of the inclined floor, into a pit or tank made to receive it.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Trevan were busily engaged in this cellar one morning +towards the end of July. They were clearing away things that had +accumulated during the winter, such as washing tubs, clothes lines, +fire-wood, and old fish baskets, for the first boats from Newlyn were +about to set sail that afternoon in quest of pilchards. They were +likely to go some distance out to sea, as the shoals do not come inland +until the month of August, when they are probably driven there by +hunger.</p> + +<p>Pilchards are caught near to the shore in a different manner from that +which is employed in the open sea.</p> + +<p>As they approach the land, they are enclosed in the seine, a large +net which encircles the whole shoal. In this case it is the merchant +who engages the fishermen to work for him at weekly wages. Huers, or +look-out men, stand on the cliffs when the sea birds gather in great +numbers, and watch for a red tinge on the water, which shows that a +shoal is approaching. When the huer ascertains for certain that he is +not deceived, he shouts, "Heva, heva"—found, found—and this is the +signal for the boats to put off and secure the prize. He is furnished +with a large bush of furze, which he waves to the right or left to +indicate the direction they are to take, and where to cast the seine.</p> + +<p>The fishermen who work for themselves use the drift-net, and their +own boat is sufficient, while seine-fishing requires three boats; +for enclosing the shoal of pilchards is only the first step towards +securing it.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith were all excitement, and lessons were abandoned +in the more engrossing occupation of helping to salt pilchards. They +assisted their mother and grandfather to join the nets together into +one. Each member of the crew which owned the "Mary Ann" had the same +done at home, and at last all were joined again; thus an enormous net +nearly three quarters of a mile in length was formed.</p> + +<p>The "Mary Ann" was supplied with provisions, for she might have to +spend two nights at sea. She left Newlyn about five o'clock; the glass +was high, the sea calm, and the moon at its full.</p> + +<p>"Look sharp for the birds," said John Trevan, when the boat was some +miles out at sea; for gulls and other wild fowl pursue a shoal of +pilchards, as well as hordes of dogfish, hake, and cod.</p> + +<p>On and on they sailed, until the boat was about ten miles distant from +the Scilly Isles; then John Trevan gave the word of command to lower +the net. It was let down gently into the sea, and formed a wall more +than twenty feet deep. The sails were then taken down, and boat and net +allowed to drift with the tide.</p> + +<p>"'Tis almost too bright a night for them," whispered one of the crew to +his companions. "See how clear the water is. The moon shows the net."</p> + +<p>"Hush," said another; "we are striking into the right course. I see +hungry fish on every side, as if in pursuit."</p> + +<p>And so it was, a few minutes later they came up to a fine shoal of +pilchards, not so large as sometimes, but large enough for the net to +secure fifteen thousand, which were scooped out by the aid of smaller +nets, worked within the compass of the great seine-net. Some large +fish were caught besides, that in chasing their prey had been captured +themselves.</p> + +<p>The "Mary Ann" was not the only well-laden boat that entered Newlyn +harbour next morning; others had been equally successful; for as the +shoal came against one drift-net, its course was altered until it fell +in with another, and so on through the night.</p> + +<p>John Trevan and his partners were met by their wives and children, +all eager to help carry the pilchards to the cellar. They were laden +with cowels, barrows, and tubs, and were soon hard at work. Some of +the women having taken up one load remained in the cellar to cure +them, while the rest went backwards and forwards until the fish were +all brought up; then they too helped to cure them. It is done in +this manner. The pilchards are cleaned and placed in tiers edgewise, +and each tier is sprinkled with salt; they thus resemble a packet of +sandwiches turned side uppermost, and remain in this condition for six +weeks, in order to give time for the oil and water to drain out. They +are thoroughly washed before being packed in barrels for export.</p> + +<p>It was after nine o'clock ere the day's work was done. Then the cellar +was locked, and the members of each family retired to their respective +homes, in a condition agreeable neither to the sight or smell.</p> + +<p>"I am right-down tired," said Dorothy, throwing herself into a chair, +"and so must you be, grandfather; and poor father has been up all +night. But only think, Judith, we've each earned two shillings; for you +know the rule, father, threepence an hour, just as if we were working +for strangers."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you do as much when you work for me as when you work for +some of our rich merchants?" asked Mr. Trevan.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I am," answered Dorothy. "But here comes mother with something +nice for supper. I do think you are the very kindest mother to be found +anywhere," she added.</p> + +<p>"What can it be?" said Judith, for Mrs. Trevan had brought in her dish +with a white napkin thrown over it.</p> + +<p>"It's a squab pie; I'm sure it is by the shape of it," exclaimed +Dorothy, "Am I right, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've kept my secret very well; but I wanted to surprise you, +John, after your hard work."</p> + +<p>A squab pie is highly esteemed in Cornwall; it is made of mutton +steaks, onions, and sliced pippins placed in layers in a deep pie-dish, +and covered with crust.</p> + +<p>"But how did you find time to make it without our knowing?" asked +Judith.</p> + +<p>"I did it when you all went out, yesterday; and I slipped out of the +cellar for a few minutes to look to the fire so as to warm it up +again," replied her mother. "Now, father, let me help you."</p> + +<p>"Not to-night, Philippa," answered the old man, "though I'm sorry to +disappoint you. I'm over tired, and would rather sit still and look +on. John," he added a few minutes later, "I've been asked to be a huer +this year; do you advise me to accept the offer? I'm not sure my old +weather-beaten bark will stand up against the fatigue."</p> + +<p>"Nor do I wish you to risk it, father," said Mr. Trevan. "Leave such +work now for younger men. I ought not to have allowed you to stand +about salting pilchards all to-day."</p> + +<p>"But I like it, John; and I should enjoy standing on Paul Hill to +watch for the tinge on the sea, and to wave a branch of furze hither +and thither when I'm sure the shoal is advancing. I've rarely been +deceived. How wonderful it is to see the water alive with silver +scales."</p> + +<p>"So it is, father, and I know you've been a clever huer in your day, +and since you were too old to command a ship; but you can't stand the +fatigue of watching and waiting about for hours, this year. You are +tired enough with to-day, and it's been easy work compared to a huer's, +for he is exposed to rough winds and heavy rains. Will you not go to +bed at once?"</p> + +<p>"No, John, not until I've offered up my evening prayer. I want to thank +God with you, for I'm so grateful to Him for giving you such a good +take. We may say of the pilchards, we know not whence they come or +whither they go, but that God sends them to us; and it seems to me a +cause for deep thankfulness that they appear year after year; for after +all, it is the Father's good pleasure to send them."</p> + +<p>"So it is, and we will bless Him for His great kindness to us," +responded, John reverently. "How apt we are to forget the many mercies +which are scattered around us day by day, and to take them as if we +deserved them instead of with thankful hearts."</p> + +<p>"Right, John, very right. 'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not +consumed, because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning: +great is His faithfulness.' I can sing of fresh mercies which have been +scattered around my path through all my long, long pilgrimage."</p> + +<p>"So can I; and so can we all," added Mrs. Trevan. "Now, father, let us +pray together."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith were not too tired to join in grandfather's evening +prayer.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image018" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image018.jpg" alt="image018"></figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE STORM.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"HOW are you, grandfather?" asked Judith, next morning, tapping at the +old man's door.</p> + +<p>"Come in, dear," he answered. "I'm not well; quite tired out, Judith. +I'm not so young as I was. I must give up work, except mending and +making nets, and I like doing that as well as anything; it reminds me +of the disciples when the Master called them. It can't be long before +He calls me."</p> + +<p>"I'll bring you a cup of tea, grandfather," said the little girl, +stooping down to kiss him tenderly. "I'm so glad you didn't try to get +up until you are more rested."</p> + +<p>Towards afternoon Captain Nance was so far better as to take his old +place in his arm-chair. He tried to mend a net, but his hands did not +move so rapidly as usual.</p> + +<p>"I must give in to-day, Philippa," he said at last. "I'm so very, very +weary. I'm going to tell John he was right when he said I wasn't fit to +be a huer this year. I'm going to look-out for something better than +pilchards—my sailing orders, they won't be long before they come."</p> + +<p>"You're tired and out of spirits to-day, father," said Mrs. Trevan, +kindly. "Another night's rest will set you up again."</p> + +<p>"Never, Philippa; I've gone beyond that. I've only one prayer to be +answered now, then I can say,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"On my bended knees, night and day, I have and will supplicate my +Heavenly Father, that Willy may yet return. His coming will bring +matters into plain sailing before I go the way of all flesh. I shall +have nothing left to wish for or to care for. He'll come before I die."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Trevan's eyes filled with tears, but she made no remark, and for +some minutes neither father nor daughter spoke.</p> + +<p>"I think I'll have a little walk," said Captain Nance, breaking the +silence, and rising from his arm-chair. "Give me my stick, Philippa."</p> + +<p>"Let one of the children go with you, father, or I will. You seem too +poorly to be alone."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather go by myself, Philippa. I shall only walk as far as the +Tolcarne. You may send the children after me in half an hour."</p> + +<p>The old man wended his way slowly down New Street, and crossed the +bridge over the little river which runs through Newlyn. Turning past +the flour mill, he took a narrow road which led up a steep hill, and +brought him to the Tolcarne. These rocks command a charming view of +Mount's Bay and the hills around it, for they lie on the edge of a high +cliff. In Cornwall is heard what is locally termed the calling of the +sea; a murmuring roaring noise which sometimes extends eight or ten +miles inland. As Captain Nance gazed on the scene which he had known +from boyhood, he thought he heard the sea calling.</p> + +<p>"Calling me home," he said aloud. "What mercy there is in the call. I'm +ready to answer;—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of receiving my sailing orders."</p> + +<p>And the aged man stretched out his hands as if he wished to respond to +what seemed to him a call to another and brighter world. But he drew +them back when he heard footsteps approaching, and recognised voices +that he knew.</p> + +<p>"Who were you speaking to, grandfather?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Captain Nance smiled. "To the waves, dear," he replied. "It's almost +hard to return back again to the world, even to be with those I love so +well. I feel so very, very weary to-day."</p> + +<p>"Grandfather, come home," said Judith, taking his hand, gently. "You go +the other side, Dorothy."</p> + +<p>So they led him down the hill, and beguiled him along by their loving +words. He fell into a calm sleep on his return, and then they told +their mother how they had found their grandfather, and what he had said.</p> + +<p>"I believe the end is approaching," she answered; "we shall have to +brace ourselves up to bid him farewell soon. We shall miss him, but we +dare not pray to God to let him live amongst us when he longs so much +to be safely landed with his Saviour."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>The month of September found the fishermen still busy; but a great +change had passed over Captain Nance in the few weeks which intervened +since he had taken an active part in curing the first pilchards of the +season. He no longer attempted to make or mend a net, but sat in his +arm-chair all day long. He rarely tried to walk even so far as the iron +railings, and sometimes slept for several hours during the day.</p> + +<p>The doctor said that no medicine could prevent the candle of life from +burning out.</p> + +<p>To the question which his friends so often asked, "How are you to-day, +Captain Nance?" he replied, "As well as I ever shall be. I'm waiting, +waiting, waiting for my sailing orders to come."</p> + +<p>"There's no going out fishing to-day," said John Trevan, entering +the room where his wife sat with her father, about twelve o'clock +one morning in the third week of September. "It's blowing a strong +sou'-wester outside the bay; when the tide turns we shall have rough +weather. Give me a bit of dinner, wife, for I'm going to take the 'Mary +Ann' into Penzance harbour, lest any harm should befall her; there's +not much chance for a fishing-boat if she breaks away from her moorings +in such a gale as we shall have."</p> + +<p>Mount's Bay was soon alive with vessels sailing across from Newlyn to +find a better place of refuge than the little harbour affords when the +wind sets in from this quarter. Not only were the small craft glad to +gain shelter, but many merchant-ships were seen making for the bay.</p> + +<p>At the turn of the tide, John Trevan's words were verified. The waves +rolled up with terrific force, and broke over houses and walls; over +the high road between Penzance and Newlyn, which lies exposed to +the beach; over carriages and carts; over grown-up people and young +children.</p> + +<p>It happened to be market day at Penzance, so that many were passing to +and from Newlyn. At length the road became dangerous, for the waves +threw up great stones; so the women took to the fields and the men +ran along the wall which divided the road from the fields. Many were +heavily laden; husbands had been making purchases, and wives had their +baskets filled with provisions for home consumption; but even the +fields were flooded at last, and few escaped a wetting.</p> + +<p>The water dashed over the seawall at Newlyn, and right up the narrow +way past John Trevan's house. Dorothy and Judith, who were standing at +the iron railing, were nearly swept down by the fury of a wave, and, +thoroughly drenched, were glad to run home.</p> + +<p>John Trevan was returning from Penzance after placing the "Mary Ann" in +safe anchorage, when he spied a boat which had evidently broken from +its moorings in the bay. "Do unto others as you would that they should +do unto you" was his motto, so he went down on the beach to see if he +could save the boat from being dashed on the rocks.</p> + +<p>"Let it alone," shouted one of his comrades; "it belongs to James +Thompson, and if it's lost, he deserves it."</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay," answered John, "that's not what my Gospel teaches me. Come +and give me a hand."</p> + +<p>The other man passed on. But John was not to be deterred from doing the +right by this conduct. He stopped one and another of the fishermen who +had been to Penzance on the same errand as himself, and enlisted their +services. The boat was secured at last and dragged into a place of +safety, just as Thompson, who had been warned of the danger to which it +was exposed, came running up to look after his property.</p> + +<p>He was a cross-grained fellow, and not a favourite in Newlyn; but he +now advanced to John Trevan and offered him his hand.</p> + +<p>"You've done more to make me acknowledge the truth of the Gospel than +any man in Newlyn," he said. "I did not believe you when you declared +one day you tried to carry out the golden rule in your words and +actions; now I do believe you. There must be something real in such +religion as yours. I shan't forget this in a hurry."</p> + +<p>John shook the hand thus held out to him warmly, and from that hour +these two became staunch friends.</p> + +<p>By six o'clock in the evening the waves dashed mountains high, and +the whole length of the shore was a bubbling, surging mass of foam. +One ship was struggling across the bay; she was driven about in all +directions, but evidently hoped to reach the harbour.</p> + +<p>Between Newlyn and Penzance there are many reefs of rocks, and it needs +careful navigation to steer clear of them; it seemed as if the vessel +which was battling with the waves must be wrecked on these rocks. +As she neared the pier she drifted to seaward; the coast-guardsmen +signalled to her and prepared boats and rockets; when anxiety was at +its height, a sudden shift of wind caught her sails, and she safely +cleared the pier.</p> + +<p>While this vessel was saved, another, later in that evening, was lost. +She came from America and was bound to Plymouth, but she could not +reach Mount's Bay; she was driven into Lamorna Cove.</p> + +<p>It is a wild spot at all times, for the rocks are on a large scale, +and the shore is strewn with great boulders. A few workmen's cottages +scattered here and there are the only signs of habitation. The sea +on a calm day leaves only a fringe of sand, but in storm dashes up +furiously, carrying all before it.</p> + +<p>The American vessel soon went to pieces. Only two of her crew reached +land, and only one of the two lived through the night. Both of them +were cast on to a rock; a young man and an old man. While the latter +had no strength to crawl out of danger, his companion managed to creep +high enough away from the waves to save his life. There he lay unable +to move until morning broke, when he was discovered by one of the +workmen, who took him to his cottage.</p> + +<p>This was how Willy Trevan came home.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>SAILING ORDERS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE sea was not calm enough the next day to allow the Newlyn fishermen +to go out in their boats, but it was not raging as on the previous +night, though wise heads said that at the turn of the tide the waves +would come up almost as wildly as on the previous evening.</p> + +<p>The fishermen stood together in knots through Newlyn, talking over the +last night's gale, and retailing the news that one and another had +picked up by the way.</p> + +<p>The streets and rough pathways gave evidence of the storm; seaweed lay +in large quantities everywhere, while on the shore they were gathering +it up into heaps ready to cart away to manure the fields. One little +garden which lay exposed to the seawall was literally washed away, and +where flowers had been on the previous day, there was seaweed; while +the cockle shells that had ornamented the borders were strewn about in +wild disorder.</p> + +<p>Captain Nance felt very weakly; he found it difficult to leave his bed +at all; but his brave spirit went far to sustain him, and with the +assistance of his daughter, he was placed in his accustomed chair by +dinner-time.</p> + +<p>John Trevan came home with a sad list of accidents that had befallen +different vessels along the coast, and also said that an American ship +had been wrecked in Lamorna Cove, "and only one poor fellow saved, who +lies ill at Tressider's cottage," he added.</p> + +<p>"He'll be well looked after there," remarked Mrs. Trevan. "I wonder who +he is, and whether he was homeward bound. We must see if he has lost +his all, and help him, John, if he is in want. You will meet Tressider +either to-morrow or the next day, when he comes to market, so mind you +ask him some particulars."</p> + +<p>John nodded his assent; he knew why his wife was so anxious to hear +about this wrecked man; it was her tribute to Willy's memory.</p> + +<p>"We've not heard the extent of the damages," said Captain Nance. +"There's been more mischief done; you may depend upon it many lives +were lost last night. Some, I dare say, prayed when danger threatened, +as the disciples did of old,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Lord, save us: we perish.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"But others, it may be, found a watery grave without having time to +cry for mercy. There are many sorrowful hearts, and anxious ones, too, +about our world to-day."</p> + +<p>Here grandfather was interrupted by a tap at the door. Dorothy, who was +sitting close by, opened it.</p> + +<p>"Here's a letter for Mr. Trevan. I'll come back for an answer directly."</p> + +<p>John took the note; it was closely sealed. He tore it open, and as +he read the first words he uttered an exclamation which he checked +quickly, glancing at his wife.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked, anxiously noting her husband's agitation. +"John, tell me;" and she would have taken the letter from him.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Philippa," he said, "not yet. Can you bear it?"</p> + +<p>"Bear what, John? Tell me."</p> + +<p>"Willy's come home. He's the young man who lies ill at Tressider's."</p> + +<p>Philippa could not bear the joyful news; she fainted away. The strain +and weariness, the tears and long waiting, had lasted for years; and +now the joy was so unlooked for. But consciousness soon returned.</p> + +<p>"He's come at last," she murmured. "My God, I thank Thee for hearing a +mother's prayers."</p> + +<p>"Bear up bravely, wife; our son is not far off; he's only at Lamorna; +we must go and fetch him home."</p> + +<p>"Where is he?" she asked, as if she scarcely comprehended her husband's +words.</p> + +<p>"At Lamorna. Tressider found him lying on a rock, bruised and hurt, but +living. He was the only one saved from the wreck."</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Trevan made all haste to reach Lamorna Cove. There indeed +were signs of storm, for scattered about far inland were quantities of +seaweed and timbers which had been washed up by the great waves.</p> + +<p>Tressider's cottage was planted half way up the ravine, so they were +obliged to leave their hired cart at the little roadside inn, and walk +to it. Philippa's knees trembled; she could scarcely command herself +enough to go forward; and her teeth chattered with agitation. Mr. +Trevan threw his strong arm round her and almost carried her at last.</p> + +<p>"John, let me go to him alone," she said.</p> + +<p>No one but God and the angels witnessed the meeting between the mother +and her newly found son. When the husband entered the room ten minutes +later, they were still locked in a close embrace; but they made room +for him, and Willy was forgiven and welcomed home by his father.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>More than a week elapsed before he could bear the journey to Newlyn. +His mother remained with him, and little by little heard the sad +history of his life. It was an old, old story that Willy told. The +story of the prodigal wandering from his father, and choosing his own +way; finding the world a hard taskmaster; going from one scene of +wickedness to another; then being in want and resolving to go home. +But in the meantime he had learned by stern discipline that he had +wronged a Heavenly Father as well as an earthly parent; he remembered +his mother's tears and prayers, and he arose and went to his God; made +confession of his sins, and sued for pardon through Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>When the family was once more re-united in the old home, every heart +was full to overflowing with gratitude to God. Willy was carried from +the spring cart and laid on the sofa that had been brought in from the +best parlour for him. It was an old-fashioned couch, which was deemed +too good for ordinary occasions, but was not thought too good for sick +Willy to rest upon.</p> + +<p>The meeting between Captain Nance and his grandson was solemn and +touching.</p> + +<p>"'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word,'" said the old man, as he bent over him and kissed him. "Willy, +I believed I should live to see you, and God has sent you home. Praise +the Lord for all His mercies, and most of all for teaching you, even +though suffering, that there's no safe anchorage anywhere out of +Christ."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Judith were silent with pleasure; they looked lovingly and +admiringly at their tall sun-burnt brother, who pressed the hands that +fondled his. It was not a noisy family party that sat in that little +parlour at Newlyn on the evening that Willy returned, but a very happy, +quiet, earnest group; even his father remained at home to receive him.</p> + +<p>Captain Nance, as usual, conducted prayer.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, my children and grandchildren," he said, ere he left the +room. "My sailing orders will come soon now. My old weather-beaten +bark will be safely landed on the eternal shore before long. The +harbour-master will come alongside and release me from any further +waiting. Bless and thank God for it. Kiss me, all of you."</p> + +<p>They obeyed him, and then his daughter helped him to bed as usual. +Afterwards she came to her Willy, and his room, which had so long been +empty, was once more tenanted by its rightful occupant.</p> + +<p>The next morning there was a sound of weeping in the fisherman's +cottage, for they loved the brave old man so much. His sailing orders +had been brought to him during the night, and his weather-beaten bark +was safely landed where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary +are at rest.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image019" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image019.jpg" alt="image019"></figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p>LONDON: R. K. BURT AND CO., PRINTERS.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76233 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76233-h/images/image001.jpg b/76233-h/images/image001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6319a1e --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image001.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image002.jpg b/76233-h/images/image002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f3a12b --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image002.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image003.jpg b/76233-h/images/image003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d330cf8 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image003.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image004.jpg b/76233-h/images/image004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..19669df --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image004.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image005.jpg b/76233-h/images/image005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ef6b98 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image005.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image006.jpg b/76233-h/images/image006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f54dae0 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image006.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image007.jpg b/76233-h/images/image007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..674e750 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image007.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image008.jpg b/76233-h/images/image008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ad411c --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image008.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image009.jpg b/76233-h/images/image009.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c170c34 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image009.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image010.jpg b/76233-h/images/image010.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d067a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image010.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image011.jpg b/76233-h/images/image011.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a28c99 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image011.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image012.jpg b/76233-h/images/image012.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fcc4585 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image012.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image013.jpg b/76233-h/images/image013.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea7cfa7 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image013.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image014.jpg b/76233-h/images/image014.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8f2051 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image014.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image015.jpg b/76233-h/images/image015.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..132c25a --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image015.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image016.jpg b/76233-h/images/image016.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..54aa422 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image016.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image017.jpg b/76233-h/images/image017.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..650ec8f --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image017.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image018.jpg b/76233-h/images/image018.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bd7301 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image018.jpg diff --git a/76233-h/images/image019.jpg b/76233-h/images/image019.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6587787 --- /dev/null +++ b/76233-h/images/image019.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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