BIRTH OF A VOLCANIC ISLAND. 153 weather, he had been unable to sleep, and was on deck again, walking nervously fore and aft, now peering on this side, and then on the other side of the quarterdeck, looking anxiously out into the darkness, then aft, then at the compass, and then at the barometer, which hung in the cabin gangway. 3. Round and round went the ship, heedless of her helm, and the mercury told the same tale it had told for hours before. In vain did the eyes of anxious men peer into the darkness; only inky blackness met their straining gaze every where. Thus matters stood till six* bells, when the mercury began to fall suddenly. The quick, jerking voice of the captain was then heard. - 4. "Mr. Smalley, you may take in the light sails."“Ay, ay, sir;" and, stepping to the main-mast, he called out, "For'ard there!" and was immediately answered, "For'ard, sir."-"Stand by the top-gallant and the flying-jib halyards." In a moment he heard the report, "Ready, sir."-"Let go the halyards, and clew down; let go the sheets, and clew up; that 'll do; belay all; now jump. up and furl them; be lively, lads." 5. While this was going on, the captain took another look at the barometer, and found the mercury still going down fast. Thoroughly aroused now, he caught his speaking-trumpet from the beckets, and cried out, "Hold on, there. Down from aloft, every man of you. Call all hands." Down came the men again. "All hands ahoy!" was called with great strength of voice at both the cabin and forecastle gangways, and then followed one of those scenes which defies such de *Indicating eleven o'clock at night. The time at sea is marked every half hour by strokes on a bell. At noon eight strokes are made, at half past twelve one stroke, and so on, -one being added every half hour, till, at four o'clock, eight bells are again struck. Then, at half past four, one stroke is made, and so on till at eight o'clock, when eight strokes are again made, and the first night watch begins. 154 BIRTH OF A VOLCANIC ISLAND. scription as would make it intelligible to a landsman, but which any sailor readily understands. 6. The top-sails were close-reefed, a reef taken in the mainsail, the jib, and flying-jib, and all the light sails were furled, and the ship made ready for the expected gale. But yet no breath of air had been felt moving. An unnatural stillness and heaviness of the atmosphere were observed by all. Several of the seamen saw a dim purple streak suddenly appear right ahead of the ship, and called out, "Here it comes, sir." -"Where?" cried the captain."Right ahead, sir." "Hard a-port your helm."-"Hard a-port it is, sir.”— "Brace round the yards."-" Ay, ay, sir." 7. The yards were braced round, and the ship was got ready to receive the expected blast on the larboard tack. That dreadful streak of cloud grew almost crimson; and there was heard what seemed the heavy roar of the coming gale, and every man held his breath, awaiting the shock. Good men and courageous sailors were on that ship's deck, but they shrank, like frightened children, from the terrible onslaught. When God speaks in those fearful storms, His voice is awful to the ear, and many a strong man has quailed before it. And the storm itself is scarcely more trying to one's nerves than the dreadful suspense of the moment before it strikes. 8. Thus they waited till the minutes lengthened into hours, and the only change perceptible was in the deepening color of that lowering cloud of crimson light. At length eight bells told that four o'clock had arrived, and daylight was looked for even as those men in the ship with Paul looked for it when they "wished for day." But the struggling light of morning seemed only to reveal the thickness of the darkness to the wondering vision. Just at daylight the ears of all on board were stunned with successive, quick reports, BIRTH OF A VOLCANIC ISLAND. 155 louder than whole broad-sides from a hundred-gun ship; and the heavens were lighted up with a fiery red light. 9. The ocean at the same time was stirred from her profoundest depths; great waves, without any visible cause, ran in the most awful commotion, now striking together and throwing the white foam and spray high in air, then parting, to meet again in fearful embrace as before. A shoal of sperm whales ran athwart the ship's bows, making every exertion to escape from the strangely-troubled water. Within a few cable lengths of the ship an immense column of water was thrown mast-head high, and fell back again with a roar like Niagara. A deep, mournful noise, like the echo of thunder among mountain caverns, was constantly heard, and none could tell whence it came. The noble ship was tossed and shaken like a plaything. "Heaven have mercy upon us!" cried officers and men. "What is this? What is coming next? Is it the day of judgment?" The royal Psalmist described them accurately: "They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end." 10. Soon the mystery was solved, when right before their eyes, about one league from them, there arose the rough sides of a mountain out of the yielding water, and reared its head high in the air! Then, from its summit, flames burst forth, and melted lava ran like a river down the declivity, and fell like a cascade of flame into the seething ocean. It was a birth-throe of nature, and an island was born which was miles in circumference. 11. Two years afterward I sailed over that very place, but the placid water gave no intimation that an island had been there. Yet no man has said that he saw the death and burial of that land whose birth I have thus chronicled! "They that go down to the 156 THANKSGIVING FOR EXISTENCE. sea in ships, that do business in the great waters,these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." D. C. WRIGHT. 12. The foregoing narrative, from the Western Christian Advocate, is vouched for as entirely true by its author. Volcanic eruptions similar to that he describes are on record. Upon the coasts of Iceland, and in great depths of water, new islands have been thrown up, some of which have remained, and others disappeared. In the year 1783, a new island was thrown up off the coast, consisting of high cliffs; and with such an ejection of pum'ice, that the ocean was covered to the distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and ships were impeded in their course by the shoals of floating stones. 13. In 1811, a volcano forced its way from beneath the sea, off the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores. It formed a crater above the water a mile in circumference, and about three hundred feet high. In the middle of the seventeenth century, an island was thrown up among the Heb'ri-des, which in a month' disappeared. In the Bay of Naples, Monte Nuovo was thrown up in one day nearly five hundred feet high, and a mile and a half in circumference. These facts sufficiently show that the incidents of Mr. Wright's narrative are not unexampled. LIX. — THANKSGIVING FOR EXISTENCE. CLEAVE, v. i., to adhere to; to stick. | BEAU'TE-OUS, a., fair; pleasing. Avoid saying eer for ere (like air); heerd for heard (herd); bust for burst. 1. BLESSED be thy name, O Lord! my Creator. Blessed be thy name forever and ever. Thou didst THANKSGIVING FOR EXISTENCE. 157 call me from nothingness, from the deep sleep of the dust, that I might breathe the air of life, and drink the light of thy glorious sun. When I look around, what multitudes of living things salute mine eyes! The earth is full of beauty; the voice of delight and joyousness is heard on every side. 2. Thou hast given me a mind to contem'plate thee; and when I gaze on the bright sky, or the fair earth, or the deep sea, I read the wonders of thy power, thy wisdom, and thy tender mercies, and I know that THOU art GOD. Thou hast given me a heart to melt with love, and to rejoice in goodness; thou hast given mo feelings, to spring up like beauteous flowers, and blossom in thy smile; above all, thou hast given me the promise of life beyond the grave. Blessed be thy glorious name! 3. When I feel the full burst of joy in the early morning; when my heart is full of gaysomeness and mirth, when my limbs are fresh with vigor, and rejoice in their strength, then, O Lord! my Creator, let me praise and bless thy name; for all my joy, and health, and strength, are thine. Thou providest for me daily; the air I breathe is full of life and sweetness; my daily bread is joyful to me; the eye makes beauty where it looks; and the ear turns barren sounds to harmony. 4. Thy hand is ever open to my wants, and thy blessings fall like the sunlight and the rain. Thine ear never faileth to listen to my prayers. Grant them as may seem best in thy sight. Be thou the guide and comfort of my early youth. What a gift is MIND! Surely it is a shadow of thyself! Great and marvelous is its power, its glory, and its strength; but all it hath of good is thine! ག 5. Thou hast given me sense, that I may enjoy; understanding, that I may gather knowledge; affections, that I may love; and reason, that I may distin |