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Title: Launch the lifeboat!
Author: Mrs. O. F. Walton
Illustrator: H. J. Rhodes
Release date: December 9, 2023 [eBook #72363]
Language: English
Original publication: London: The Religious Tract Society, 1886
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAUNCH THE LIFEBOAT! ***
Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
[Illustration: Launch the LIFEBOAT.]
[Illustration: LAUNCHING THE LIFEBOAT.]
LAUNCH THE LIFEBOAT!
BY
MRS. O. F. WALTON
Author of
"Peep behind the Scenes," "Little Dot," etc.
The Drawings by H. J. RHODES.
LONDON:
The Religious Tract Society.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
LAUNCH THE LIFEBOAT!
POEM WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
ILLUSTRATIONS WITH CAPTIONS
LAUNCH THE LIFEBOAT
LAUNCHING THE LIFEBOAT.
SUMMER DAYS ON THE BEACH.
SPINNING A YARN.
MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS.
BEACON LIGHTS.
HARK! THERE'S THE BELL!
THE FARMER'S RIDE.
ON AN ERRAND OF MERCY.
HASTE TO THE RESCUE!
STEAM-TUG TOWING THE LIFEBOAT.
THE ROCKET APPARATUS.
FIRING THE ROCKET.
SHOWING A FLARE.
THE LIFE BELT.
THROWING THE LIFE-LINE.
THE RESCUE.
ON THE ROCKS.
THE BABY IN THE BLANKET.
SAVED BY THE BREECHES-BUOY.
FRIENDS IN DISTRESS.
THE LIFEBOAT-MAN'S RETURN—THE WELCOME HOME.
THE LIGHTHOUSE.
SAVED FROM THE WRECK.
SAVED BY A DOG.
HOISTING THE SIGNAL.
CRADLED IN HIS CALLING.
FATHER'S JOY.
LAUNCH THE LIFEBOAT!
WHEN I was a boy I thought August was the happiest month in the year. I
liked December too, for Christmas came in it, with the Christmas-tree
and all sorts of good things. July was almost as nice, for my birthday
was on the sixteenth, and I always had a tableful of presents. But,
after all, there was no month like August, for in August we always went
to the sea-side.
[Illustration]
What fun we had through that holiday month! There is something in the
sea which always makes me feel in good spirits. When the waves come
rolling in and dash over the rocks, when the sea birds fly overhead,
with their strange cries, when the white foam on the shore sparkles in
the sunshine, even now that I have some gray hairs in my head, I feel
quite young again, and ready to skip for joy.
I felt very wild the day I first spoke to old Jonah. Hilda and I had
been running on the rocks looking for crabs and sea anemones, and Daisy
had been paddling in a shallow sandy pool, and filling her little
bucket with water. It was a fresh, bright, windy day, and there was not
a cloud on the sky.
[Illustration: SUMMER DAYS ON THE BEACH.]
"Mother," said Hilda, as we sat down to rest, "what is that big bell
hanging between two posts near the coast-guard's house? Daisy calls it
the sailors' dinner-bell."
Somebody laughed when Hilda said that, and we looked round and saw
Jonah standing near us. He was an old fisherman whom we had often seen
walking on the beach, but we had never spoken to him before.
"Dinner-bell, little Missy?" he said. "Begging your pardon for hearing
what you was saying—dinner-bell, did ye say? It's a funny kind of a
dinner that bell rings for! What do you think they give us for dinner
when that bell calls us? Not roast beef and plum-pudding, I can tell
you!"
[Illustration: SPINNING A YARN.]
"Is it soup?" asked Daisy in a melancholy voice. For Daisy did not like
soup, and always looked very dismal when it appeared on the table.
Then old Jonah laughed more than ever, and asked us if we thought salt
water and sea-weed would make good soup.
"But," said he, "if you want to hear an old sailor's yarn, come down
under the shelter of the fishing-boats to-morrow morning, when I'm
mending my nets, and I'll tell you the story of the last time that bell
rang."
"Did you ever see Mother Carey's chickens, Missy?" said old Jonah, as
we sat down beside him, the next day.
"No," said Hilda, "we don't know many people here. Does Mother Carey
live in one of the cottages near the shore?"
[Illustration: MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS.]
Oh, how old Jonah laughed then!
"No, I couldn't tell you where she lives," he said; "nor who she is
neither, for the matter of that."
"Did you ever see her chickens then, Jonah?" said I.
"Ay, many a time, my boy," he said. "I'll tell you what we sailors mean
by Mother Carey's chickens. They are sea birds which come when there's
going to be a storm, and fly low over the water. We never like to see
them: we know there's bad weather coming when she sends her chickens
out. I never knew Mother Carey send us so many chickens as she did on
that afternoon I'm going to tell you about. My little lad and lass were
playing on the beach, and they came running home to say they thought
Mother Carey must be cleaning her hen-house, and had turned all her
chickens out at once."
[Illustration]
"'It's going to be a rough night, Polly,' said I to my old woman; and
I went out on the pier yonder to have a bit of a chat with Peter. He's
our old coastguard man is Peter, Master Stanley. You must go and see
him some day."
"Peter was very busy with his glass looking over the water to see if
any ships were in sight. Ay, little Missy, I wish you could have seen
the waves that evening as the sun went down; they came tearing in like
great roaring lions. Peter and I were nearly carried off our feet by
the wind. Then, as we stood on the pier, there came a great crash and
we saw that the farther end of it had been broken down, and the waves
were rolling the big blocks of stone about as if they were your little
marbles, Master Stanley."
[Illustration: BEACON LIGHTS.]
"Well, as it grew dark, the storm got worse, till at last, the waves
came right over the top of the harbour and dashed against our cottage
wall."
"Do you know our cottage, Miss Hilda?"
"Stand up, and you can see it. There it is, just above the harbour.
Well, you see how far below it the sea is now. But that night, the
waves swept across the road between our cottage and the harbour, and
the spray beat against the bed-room windows! I ran home to see if Polly
was frightened, and Peter called after me, 'Keep your ears open for the
bell, Jonah; there'll be mischief to-night, I'll be bound.'"
[Illustration: HARK! THERE'S THE BELL!]
"Poor Polly was baling out water from the kitchen, and the children
were standing at the top of the stairs watching her."
"'Oh, Jonah,' she said, 'what a fearful night!'"
"'I do hope you won't have to go out with the boat, my lad,' says
Granny. (That's my old mother; she's been dead a many years, Master
Stanley.)"
"Granny had no sooner said the words than we heard the clattering of
horse's hoofs coming down the hill and up the street at the side of our
house."
"'There's somebody in a mighty hurry,' said Polly."
"'Listen! Hush!' I said, as the children were talking to each other."
[Illustration: THE FARMER'S RIDE.]
"Nothing was to be heard at first but the roaring of the wind and
waves. And then clear above them all we heard the ringing of Peter's
bell!"
"Polly turned as white as a sheet, and old Granny began to cry. For we
knew well enough what that bell meant. Some poor ship was in distress,
and we must take the lifeboat out."
"'Oh, my lad,' said Granny, 'she can never weather such a sea as this!'"
"'Cheer up, old mother,' said I; 'cheer up, Polly, my lass; please God,
we'll save some of them poor souls.'"
"I lost not a moment getting ready, and only stopped to kiss Polly and
Granny and the children. Maybe I should never kiss them again, I said
to myself."
"'Father,' said my little lass, 'here's a present for you;' and she put
in my hand a little bit of newspaper, tied up with blue wool. I had no
time to look inside, but I gave her a kiss, and tucked it inside my
shirt, and off I went as fast as I could run to Peter's shed."
[Illustration: ON AN ERRAND OF MERCY.]
"Our men were hurrying in from all directions. Nine had turned up when
I got there, and the others came soon after. Our cork-jackets and our
life-belts were hung up in their proper places in the boat-house, and
we got them on in less time than I can tell you about it. Then we got
the boat out, and put everything ready; and whilst they were yoking
in the horses, to drag her down to the shore, I had just a moment to
spare, and I pulled out little Jessie's parcel and looked what was in
it. It was a little text-card she had got at the Sunday-school—her
prettiest one, bless her! I read the text on it by the lamp in the
boat-house. I wanted to have a look at it, for I did not know if I
should ever see my little lass again. There were only three little
words on Jessie's card, and I had them in my mind all night, Master
Stanley. It was a little prayer:"
"LORD, SAVE ME!"
"I put the card back in my bosom, and away I went with the boat. Our
lads had got four strong horses to drag her down to the sea, and we
ran along beside them, ready to push her off and jump in as quickly as
possible."
[Illustration: HASTE TO THE RESCUE!]
"The ship had struck on some rocks about five miles away; so the farmer
told us who had ridden over for the boat. He said the coastguardsmen
over there had got the rockets out, and they were busy with them when
he started. She was a big craft, and seemed to have a lot of men aboard
her."
"As soon as we got the lifeboat to the water, we all jumped into her,
and then came the hard struggle to get her off. As fast as we pulled
her off from shore there came a great high wave, and dashed her in
again."
"It was all of no use, Master Stanley; no power that we could use could
get her off, and we should have had to give it up for a bad job, if
we had only had our arms to trust to. But Peter had sent off for a
steam-tug lying a bit farther up the coast, and as soon as she came up
and took us in tow, we began to make way."
"You know, Miss Hilda, our lifeboat; she's not like these other boats
you see about; she's made as light as she can be, and her sides are
filled with air, so that she rises like a cork to the top of the sea."
[Illustration: STEAM-TUG TOWING THE LIFEBOAT.]
"The water flowed into the boat, and over her, but still she floated.
We seemed to be plunging through the waves the whole way. Then came a
wave bigger than the rest, and broke over the boat, and quite buried
her for a moment; but up she jumped and shook herself free, little
beauty that she is!"
"And once, Master Stanley, there came a great breaker, rushing along,
and catching her up, it threw her right over, and we were all sent
headlong into the sea. I thought it was all up with us then; but in a
minute she had righted herself again, and we in our cork-jackets had
come to the top, and had clambered into her again, one after another,
till all were there and ready to go on."
"Away, away, over the raging waves. I shall never forget it as long
as I live. And all the way, Miss Hilda, my little Jessie's prayer was
ringing in my ears:"
"LORD, SAVE ME!"
"Even the wind and the waves seemed to be saying it. And if ever I
prayed, Master Stanley, I prayed that night in the lifeboat; for death
was very near, and I was not sure that night that my soul was safe. But
I seemed to see the Lord coming out to save me, just as I was going
after them poor creatures in the ship; and I cried to Him from the
bottom of my heart, 'Lord, save me!'"
"And, Miss Hilda, He heard me; I know He did."
[Illustration]
"We were getting round the point now, and every man of us was on
the look-out for the wreck. It was so thick, for a time it seemed
impossible to find her, but we could hear the sound of rockets in the
distance, and we caught now and then a gleam of light through the
darkness."
"You'll have seen the rockets, maybe, Master Stanley?"
"Yes, we always have rockets on the Fifth of November," said Hilda; "we
had two dozen last year."
[Illustration: THE ROCKET APPARATUS.]
"They are very useful things are rockets in our work, little. Missy.
We fasten a thin cord to them and fire them over the ship in distress.
Peter will show you the boxes we keep our lines in. There are two rows
of pegs inside the box, and the line is wound round them in such a way
that when the pegs are drawn out it will uncurl quite easily. Then the
rocket is fired, and the line is shot quickly out of the box, and it
never stands a chance of getting tangled or knotted. Then as soon as
the lads on board the sinking ship manage to catch hold of the line
they draw it in, and we fasten to the end of it a strong stout cable,
and many a poor fellow we get in that way."
[Illustration: FIRING THE ROCKET.]
"Well, as I said, they were busy with the rockets when we got near, and
we made in the direction in which we saw them going. Suddenly there
came a bright light, Master Stanley, and then we saw it all. It was a
flare which some sailor on board the sinking ship was holding up to
show us where they lay."
[Illustration: SHOWING A FLARE.]
"We had got very near them by this time, and when that light showed us
where they were, it was enough to make us shudder. She had settled down
by the stern on the rocks: her bows were sticking up above the water,
but her deck was nearly covered: her masts were broken, her sails were
torn, and the poor things aboard her were clinging to the rigging."
"Little by little we made them out, Miss Hilda, and a pitiful sight
it was. There were women there, and little children, and I thought of
Polly, and of Harry, and Jess, and baby Maggie ('Father's Magpie.' we
used to call her); and I felt I would do anything to save them poor
women and children. So I said my prayer again, 'Lord, save me.' and I
held firmly on."
[Illustration: THE LIFE BELT.]
"And now the sea was carrying us on with tremendous force towards the
wreck, and when we had gone as near as we dare, we cast anchor to
prevent ourselves being dashed in pieces on the rocks. We had a stout
cable fastened to the anchor, and we began to let it out little by
little so that we might get closer to the sinking ship."
"Oh, how anxious we were now! All so still, all waiting, not a whisper
to be heard, except Peter's voice telling us what to do."
[Illustration: THROWING THE LIFE-LINE.]
"Then a huge wave lifted us: we let out a few yards of rope, and we
were alongside."
"Quick, quick as lightning, a woman and a girl were tumbled into the
boat. 'All hands to the cable; haul in, hand over hand! For your lives,
men, quick!' cried Peter; for he saw another great breaker coming, and
he knew that unless we drew ourselves away, we should be dashed to
pieces on the wreck."
[Illustration: THE RESCUE.]
"Again we watched and waited, and as soon as a smaller wave came, once
more we let out the rope, and got alongside again. This time we were
able to stay longer; and so we came backwards and forwards, till one by
one eight persons were safe on board."
"'Are they all saved, all here?' shouted Peter."
[Illustration: ON THE ROCKS.]
"No; several men and women were still clinging to the rigging; our work
was not done yet. The next time we got near the ship a sailor threw a
bundle down, and I caught it, though I had half a mind to throw it into
the sea. I thought it was a blanket, Miss Hilda, and we wanted no extra
luggage aboard, I can tell you."
"But what in the world do you think it was? It was a little baby! A
tiny mite of a thing, just the picture of my Magpie; and her mother had
wrapped her up in the blanket, and given her to the sailor to throw in.
Poor lamb, we put her down in the bottom of the boat, and she cried a
bit, but we had no time to think of her then; there was her mother to
save, and a lot of others besides. We could not do with any more of
them at that time; we were getting overweighted as it was, so we got
them all, poor things, aboard the steamer, and then back we went to the
wreck."
[Illustration: THE BABY IN THE BLANKET.]
"We never should have saved them all—there would not have been time;
but they were getting a good many ashore by the rope which the rocket
had taken out. I'll show you, Master Stanley, the thing they bring them
in. We call it the breeches-buoy. They put their legs in the breeches,
and the buoy holds them up, and they are drawn along the rope to the
shore."
[Illustration: SAVED BY THE BREECHES-BUOY.]
"At last the cry went up—'All saved!' and we began to make for shore."
[Illustration]
"Maybe you think it was a hard time for me, Miss Hilda, but I'll tell
you who it was worse for—it was worse for Polly, and Granny, and the
bairns. They all turned out, poor souls, after I left, and stood at the
edge of the pier, with the wind blowing in their faces, looking out
over the dark sea trying to catch the first sight of our boat. And when
at last they saw the steamer making for the pier, they, and the old
sailors standing with them, and all the wives and lasses of the other
men, raised such a shout of joy that we heard it, Master Stanley, above
the raging of the storm. I often seem to hear that shout in my dreams
even now."
[Illustration: FRIENDS IN DISTRESS.]
"But poor Polly wasn't happy yet. Maybe the boat's coming, but not
Jonah, she thought. And Granny caught hold of her shawl and cried
'Look, Polly, my dear, is my lad aboard, dost thou think?' It was Jess
that first caught sight of me, bless her. 'There's my daddy, Mother!'
she cried; 'God's brought him safe home again.' Then away they all
rushed to the landing-place, to be ready to meet us:—all the wives and
children, Polly, and Jess, and Harry, and even little Magpie. Polly
took her from a neighbour's arms, and brought her to meet me."
"Oh, what a meeting we all had, Miss Hilda, down there on the shore!
It was almost like getting me back from the dead, Polly said, for she
never expected to see me again. And Father's Magpie put her wee arms
round my neck and screamed for joy, and Jess and Harry danced round me
and clapped their hands, and Polly said 'Thank God!' and old Granny
wound up with 'Amen.'"
[Illustration: THE LIFEBOAT-MAN'S RETURN—THE WELCOME HOME.]
"But we'd had no time to think of ourselves, Master Stanley. The tug
was coming ashore, and there were the poor half-drowned creatures off
the wreck to be cared for. Polly had made up a big fire in the kitchen;
the tide had gone down, and the floor was getting dry, and our cottage
was one of those nearest the shore."
"They wanted looking after, poor things: some of them were almost dead.
We carried the women in litters, and the poor bairns we took in our
arms. I picked up a bonny little lassie, just about as big as our Jess.
She had nothing on but her little white night-gown and a wee shawl; the
children were in bed when the ship struck, and her mother had hurried
her up on deck just as she was. We fetched her in the first boat, but
her mother was one of the last to be saved; and she was so weak and
faint when we got her aboard that some of them thought she was dead.
She lay down in the bottom of the boat and took no notice of anything,
and none of us knew she belonged to the child for some time after we
got ashore. So Polly and me fetched this little Missy home, and Polly
dressed her in our Jessie's clothes and gave her some warm coffee, and
she and Jess sat chatting by the fire together as if they were two
little sisters."
"I sat with my pipe in my mouth, watching them and listening to their
pretty talk. I was well-nigh tired out; and, after a time, I began to
nod, and I think I was dreaming, Master Stanley, I still seemed to know
what the children were saying, when all at once I felt a hand on my
shoulder, and, looking up, I saw Peter standing over me."
"'Jonah, my lad,' he said, 'I want a word with thee outside.'"
"It was terrible news he had brought, Miss Hilda—that bonny little
lassie's mother was dead. She had never looked up since we got her
ashore. She was the only one of them we lost, and she was ill at the
time, so I've heard, and couldn't have lived many months if she'd got
over it. It was hard work fighting with the waves that night in the
lifeboat; but it was child's-play to what I had to do now, to go in and
tell the little dear that her mother was dead. I called Polly out and
told her she must do it, and Polly did nothing but cry and sob and say,
'No,' she couldn't. And once I got as far as the door, Miss Hilda, and
then, when I heard her and our Jess laughing and playing together, I
turned back again, old coward that I was!"
"It was Jess that did it at last, good little Jess. I sent for her out
on the beach, and asked her did she think she could tell it as gentle
as could be. So Jess looked very white, poor dear, but she said she
would try, and in she went, and Polly and me stood at the door and
listened. And Jessie was the best one, after all, Master Stanley, for
she threw her arms round the little lady's neck and asked her, 'Did she
know where her mother was gone?' When the poor little dear said 'No,
she didn't,' Jess took her to the window, and pointed up to a hole in
the clouds where a bit of blue sky was peeping through, and, says Jess,
'She's gone up there to God's home; my daddy says she has!' And when
the little lass began to cry, Jess talked to her beautiful, she did
indeed, Master Stanley; and me and Polly wiped our eyes, and kept as
still as mice, lest they should hear us."
"Well, she was with us a good bit, was that little lass. I wouldn't
give her up to none of them. Doctor wanted her—parson wanted her—Miss
Benson at the Hall wanted her. 'No', I says, 'begging your pardon, I
fetched her from the wreck, and she's my bairn till somebody comes
for her.' He was abroad was her father, and Captain couldn't find
his address at first, so it was a month or two before he came; and I
wouldn't have cared if he'd left her altogether."
"She was like a little angel in the house, Miss Hilda. She would get
Polly's old Testament every night and read to us as we sat over the
fire, and tell us what her mother said about the texts. I learnt more
from that little lass than I ever knew before."
"I shall never forget one evening, Master Stanley; I had been telling
her all about that terrible night when I fetched her from the wreck."
"'Weren't you very frightened, Mr. Jonah?' she says—she always called
me Mr. Jonah, bless her!"
"'Well, Missy,' says I, 'maybe I should have been frightened, if it
hadn't been for my little Jess here.' And I gave her the text-card to
look at, though it was so soaked through with salt water, it was some
time before she could spell it out. But when she did manage to read
it, she looks up in my face, and 'Mr. Jonah,' says she, 'shall we read
about Jessie's text to-night?'"
"So she turned it up in Polly's Testament—it was wonderful how she
could find her way up and down it; and she read about Peter, and John,
and all of them, out in the boat, and not knowing what to do, poor
souls, tossed with the waves and the wind against them. And the Master
up on the mountain, Miss Hilda (you'll have read it, my dear), seeing
it all, and just waiting till things got as bad as bad could be, before
He came to help them."
"'Why didn't He go a bit sooner, my dear?' says I to that little lass."
"'Why, Mr. Jonah,' she says, 'my mother told me He wanted them to feel
nobody could help them but Him.'"
"Well, away He comes over the sea, walking on the water! And if they
didn't think it was a ghost, Master Stanley! And they screamed out with
fear, more frightened at Him than ever they had been at the storm. But
He wasn't vexed with them, my dear; He says as gentle as could be, 'It
is I; be not afraid.'"
"And then Peter must be off to Him; he isn't afraid of anything, isn't
Peter. Up he jumps, and 'Lord' he cries, 'let me come to Thee on the
water.' And the Lord says, 'Come.' And he gets on fine at first, Master
Stanley; away he walks on the sea, as if he was on the pier there. But
then what does he do but lose heart, and looks at the big waves, and
then—down he goes."
"'You see, Mr. Jonah,' says the little lass, 'he never sank while he
kept looking at Jesus.'"
"'No, my dear,' says I, 'he didn't; you're right there.'"
"'And my mother said, if we wanted to be safe we must keep looking to
Jesus, Mr. Jonah,' she says."
"'Ah, my dear,' I says, 'I think I'm a deal like Peter. I made a grand
start that night of the storm; but temptations are very strong, and the
wind and the waves are high.'"
"'Well then, Mr. Jonah,' she says, 'you must call out Peter's prayer—"
"'LORD, SAVE ME.'"
"'And the Lord will put out His hand, and catch you, and hold you fast,
and you'll be safe then, Mr. Jonah,' she says."
"And so I came to see, my dears, that it isn't only once in our lives
that we want my Jessie's prayer; it isn't only when we first feel our
need of a Saviour, but it's every day and all the day that we want
to have it ready. And it's wonderful how it comes to my mind, all
quick-like, just when I need it. It's the Holy Spirit, that little lass
said, who puts the thought so quick in our hearts; and it has saved me
from many a sinking in the water, Master Stanley. When I've been going
to get into a temper, or to say and do anything as I shouldn't say or
do, I've cried out in my heart, 'Lord save me,' and it has been all
right; He's never failed me; no, He's never failed me once."
"Well, that's the way that little lass used to talk to us; she made
it all so plain, me and Polly and Granny used to say she was the best
little teacher in the world; and, when a letter came to say her father
was coming to take her away, we all very near cried our eyes out. Jess
couldn't eat a bit of breakfast, she couldn't indeed; and as for Polly,
she looked all day as if she was going to a funeral. I kept up pretty
well till we had had our last reading in Polly's Testament, and then I
broke down altogether."
"'Oh, my little lass,' I says, 'who will teach us all these things when
you've gone away?'"
"'Why, you'll have the Bible just the same, Mr. Jonah,' she says; 'the
Bible isn't going away.'"
"'But you make it so plain, my dear,' says Granny; 'even an old body
like me can take it in.'"
"Well, then she looked quite serious, and she says, as grave as can be,
'There's a better Teacher than me, Mr. Jonah. The Holy Spirit will make
it all plain to you. My mother told me never to read the Bible without
saying this little prayer:'"
"'"O God, send Thy Holy Spirit to teach me, for Jesus Christ's sake.
Amen."'"
"She said her mother had written it for her in her own little Bible
that was lost in the wreck, Miss Hilda. But she hadn't forgotten it,
and she taught it to me, and I've often said it since before I read my
Bible."
"Well, we didn't like to say good-bye; but the poor father was so glad
to get his little girl, we couldn't be so mean as to grudge her to him."
"He promised he would often bring her to see us, and he kept his word,
Master Stanley. She comes to see me sometimes even now—bless her!"
"She's married and has a little girl of her own, the very picture of
what she was when I brought her from the wreck—she is indeed."
"So that's my yarn, Master Stanley, and the story of the last time Miss
Daisy's dinner-bell rang. And as I sit mending my nets I often think
about it. I've queer thoughts sometimes, little Missy. And it seems to
me as if the whole lot of us was like those folks on the sinking ship.
But the Lord comes out to save us—bless His name for it, Miss Hilda.
Jesus is the Lifeboat to save you and me. He comes across the sea, and
He bids us jump in and be saved."
[Illustration: THE LIGHTHOUSE.]
"But if we won't come—if we like best being on the sinking ship, He
won't force us into His boat. Each one of us must come to Him one by
one; each must jump in for himself. I wonder if you and Miss Hilda are
in the Lifeboat yet?"
"I don't know, Jonah," I said; "how can we get in the boat?"
[Illustration]
"Take Jesus as your Saviour, my boy, as the Lifeboat to save you. Tell
Him you want to be saved by Him. Say my Jessie's prayer:"
"Lord, save me!"
"And will He do it?"
"If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He say me Nay?
Not till earth and not till heaven
Pass away—"
"And all in the Lifeboat get safe to shore, Master Stanley: not one
in the Lord's boat is lost. I'm getting an old man now, and I've been
in the boat a many years, and I sometimes think I'm getting near the
shore. And I seem to see Polly waiting for me—she and Jess and Granny
standing side by side looking out for me coming. They are all there
now, Miss Hilda, and they're waiting for me as they waited for me that
night."
"And Jess will dance for joy, and Polly will say 'Thank God!' and
Granny will say 'Amen,' when the Lifeboat lands me ashore."
[Illustration: SAVED FROM THE WRECK.]
The sky was clear, and cloudless.
And filled with sunny light;
The sea was like a deep blue lake.
So calm and fair and bright.
Old Jonah had been shrimping
Within the shallow bay,
We children often watched him
When we were at our play.
[Illustration]
We liked to see him wading,
His great net in his hand;
We loved to see him come ashore
And shake it on the sand.
To-day his work was ended,
He sat him down to rest
Upon a coil of tarry rope.
The seat he loved the best.
There, basking in the sunshine.
He leaned against the wall.
I saw him light his little pipe,
And then I heard him call.
Come here, young Master Stanley,
And bring your little boat,
And let me see what can be done
To make her rightly float.
[Illustration]
And sit ye down beside me
'Tis far too hot to play,
I'll may be spin another yarn
Like mine the other day.
I've been a jolly sailor
The best part of my life;
I never settled down at home
Until I got my wife.
But Polly, she said: "Jonah,
Now stop at home my dear;"
And when I looked in Polly's eye
I thought I saw a tear.
And somehow, Master Stanley,
I lost the love to roam,
And settled down at fishing here
With Polly, and at home.
But what I tell you now lad,
It happened long ago,
When I was far across the seas
Amidst the ice and snow.
'T was on Newfoundland island,
A dismal place and drear,
My master owned some fishing-boats.
I'd worked for him a year.
[Illustration]
One night we sailed as usual
And all at first went right;
We filled the boat with large cod-fish
And turned back when 'twas light.
But up then rose the breakers,
The wind blew wild and strong,
The waves were dashing on the rocks
And hurled our boat along.
How should we reach the harbour?
How should we rightly steer?
Oh! Who would give a helping hand?
Our hearts were filled with fear.
There was no bonny lifeboat
To skip above the wave,
To come across the raging tide,
To rescue and to save.
The people on the island
Were running to the pier:
The master stood upon the shore.
And watched as we drew near.
But all of them were helpless
As helpless as could be,
They cried aloud, they rushed along,
They waded in the sea!
Not one of them could reach us
Not one could give us aid;
It was a fearful time my boy,
And we were sore afraid.
But standing by my master,
And gazing on the sea.
Was Neptune, his Newfoundland dog,
A noble fellow he!
He leapt into the water.
And met the billows' strife.
Fighting each big wave as it came,
And struggling for his life.
[Illustration: SAVED BY A DOG.]
At last we saw him near us,
We wondered what he meant,
We called to him to come on board.
His strength was almost spent.
But Neptune would not heed us,
Though he swam round and round;
What could the dog have come to do?
What reason could be found?
At last Bill Fisher shouted;
"Throw him a rope, my lad;
He may have come to give us help,
I only wish he had!"
At once the dog plunged forward
To catch the rope we threw;
We knew he meant to save us then.
Our trusty friend and true.
He passed the rocks in safety.
Then leapt upon the sand;
We heard them give a shout of joy
When he had reached the land.
They seized the rope, they dragged us,
You should have seen, my boy,
How Neptune watched us come ashore,
And wagged his tail for joy.
They hoisted up the signal
To spread the news around:
That every man of us was there,
That all were safe and sound.
[Illustration: HOISTING THE SIGNAL.]
And each man on the island,
Both near and far away,
Came over to pat Neptune's head
For his good work that day.
Now I must hurry homewards,
There's Harry's wife and lad,
They've caught sight of the father's boat
He likes to meet his dad!
[Illustration]
You'll see him come ashore now;
Ah! There he is! I'm right,
I thought when they jumped off the boat
That Harry was in sight.
It's like the old days over
To watch him come from sea.
She looks for him as Polly then
So often looked for me.
[Illustration]
I live with her and Harry.
The rest are all away,
My Magpie's married to a man,
Who lives in Plymouth Bay.
See, there are Harry's children,
And now he's got his net
To carry home the baby in.
She's Harry's little pet.
[Illustration: CRADLED IN HIS CALLING.]
So good-day, Master Stanley.
But come again, my dear,
I've many another yarn to spin,
If you should care to hear.
And bring your sister with you.
There's something in her eyes
That makes me think of little Jess.
She's just about her size.
I often sit and wonder,
If children older grow;
I lost her, Master Stanley,
Some thirty years ago.
[Illustration: FATHER'S JOY.]
They say old folks love dreaming,
Of things long since gone by:
I know when I begin to dream
A tear comes in my eye.
[Illustration]
But I am sailing Homewards
The Harbour is in sight,
And we shall be together lad,
Within the Home of light.
It was upon her birthday,
The day she was eleven,
Just ask your Mother if she thinks
That they grow old in Heaven.
I sit and think about her,
And think of Polly too;
I seem to hear them speak to me,
I sometimes think they do.
[Illustration]
Printed by Meissner & Buch. Chromo-Lithographers. LONDON & LEIPZIG.
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