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PORTLAR
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® La ql
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A WEEKLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO GENERAL INTELLIGENCE, ETC.
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.)
POETRY.
[For the Transcript.]
THE WANDERER'’S THOUGHTS OF HOME.
Oh, for my childhood’s home !
Would that [ might once more upon it gaze,
Asin my early days,
Ere from its portals I had learned to roam !—
Oy, for my childhood’s home !
My own loved glades and hills,
And lofty mountains, towering to the skies,
Would they might meet my eyes,
With all their laughing streams and rills —
Oh, for my own loved hills !
The forest dark and deep,
The old elm branches spreading far and wide
‘In gracefulness and pride, }
Make thrilling music to the wild wind’s sweep ;
Oh, for the forest deep !—
Fain would [meet the loved,
The cherished of the heart in childhood’s hours,
They who amid sweet flowers,
With buoyantstep in joyous spring-time roved —
Fain would [ meet the loved !
Fain list the voices soft,
The silvery song, the spirit-stirring tones,
Like sweet Holian moans,
That charmed my ears in life’s young morning oft,
Ohi, for those voices soft!
But never, never more
Shall kindred smile or voice my spirit cheer,
I am a wanderer here =
A stricken exile from my own loved shore,
Never to greet it more.
July, 1838. Apa.
ORIGINAL TALES.
THE VOLGER FAMILY.
IN TWO PARTS,
BY CHARLES P. ILSLEY,
PART FIRST — THE WRECK.
A piteous, fearful sight —
A noble vessel laboring with the storm
Hath struck upon the rocks beneath our walls,
And by the quivering gleams of livid blue
Her deck is crowded with despairing souls,
And in the hollow pauses of the storm .
We heard their piercing cries. (Maturin.
“The weather looks more threatening —
we shall have a wild night of it; how the sea
moans!”
«¢ Yes, my boy,” said the one to whom the
remark was addressed, an old sea-faring man,
who arose, as he spoke,from the table, closing
at the same time the book he had been intent-
ly poring over —a time-worn ‘Coast Pilot,’
the companion of many a foreign voyage —
“Yes, my boy, we shall have an ugly night of
it. But Ihave been out in worse weather than
this threatens to be. Little knows he of the
terror of a storm, who sits safely housed on
shore. He must be out on the troubled sea —
dashed about on the angry waves, with the
midnight tempest howling in his ears, and a
rocky shore dead under his lee, to fully realize
its horrors. Ah, well know I what itis to live
through such a night — praised be God for His
mercy ! —and the old man’s voice sunk to a
reverential tone.
Skipper Volger, the speaker, and owner of
the dwelling, lived on a roughsea coast... Born
SUBSCRIPTIONS RECEIVED
°
A'’ THE OFFICE, NO. 18, MIDDLE STREET.
PORTLAND, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1838.
of his life having been spent upon it, le could
no more live away from salt-water than a dol-
phin. When age had incapacitated him from
following his calling, he bought a patch of land
that had accumulated by some means or other
among the rocks on Point . Just caough
soil was there to afford the old man the few
vegetables he needed, and a small flower-gar-
den for his niece, who contrived to throw a
smile over the barren spot by her unremitting
care.
On this isolated place the old man had built
him a snug little house. The whole line of
coast was extremely rough, but there was a
miniature cave, with its white sand beach, im-
mediately fronting his dwelling, ayd this was
almost the only accessible landing on the Point.
A high bluff made out on the southern side of’
the cove, which terminated ina low chain of
rocks, that formed a natural breakwater, shel-
tering the cove, so that in ordinary gales the
water there was comparatively calm. ‘The
household of Volger consisted only of a wife
and one son, together with Alice Tracy,
whom, as the offspring of a beloved and la-
mented sister, he cherished with quite as
much affee as he would a daughter of his
own. Alice at the time of our story was about
nineteen, and thoguh she might not compare
ion
with the refived belle of the city, yet she pos-
sessed a natural grace—a glowing,healthy de-
velopemeut,decidedly more attractive:to a pure
taste. Art had done nothing for her,but Nature
had not neglected her handiwork. With the as-
sistance of the former she might have moved a
queen in the circles of beauty,but she needed it
not. The mother of Alice died when she was
quite young and from that period she bad lived
with her uncle —an adopted daughter — bear-
ing his name, and receiving all the endearing
attentions that a parent could bestow. ° Dwell-
ing amid the wilder and sterner manifestations
of nature, her spirit took its tone in sone
measure from thescenes around her. From
her childhood she had been accustomed to the
jarring and tumult of elemental strife. The
hoarse music of the sea had ever been in-her
ear, and her eye was familiar with the angry
crested wave,as it dashed madly on the rocks,
bathing them in foam. Tt was on such occa-
sions, like a water sprite, she delighted to play
in the spray as it flew like a shower of pearls
over the dark ledges — her light,ringing laugh
chiming musically with the murmuring.echo
of the surge. She was_a happy creature,
Alice Tracy ! in her unchecked gladness and
untrammeled buoyancy of spirit.
Henry Volger, some three or four years her
senior, was always the companion of her ram-
bles and sports. On pleasantdays it was their
custoin, when not otherwise engaged, to roam
away over the point —now plunging into some
sea-worn cavern — vow scaling some shelving
cliff — naw searching for curious shells in the
crevices of the rocks — and now musing over
some broken spar, or rifted plank, that had
washed ashore in the last gale, sad mementos,
perhaps, of wreck and suffering. Never were
the hearts of brother and sister more closely in-
tertwined than were those of Henry and Alice.
And only in this endearing relation did they
look upon each other, Indeed the thought
rarely if ever occured that they were not of the
same parentage. Sometimes their actual re-
and brought up near the sea, the greater part
lation to each other would be brought to mind
when Alice spoke of her. brother, whom she
had never seen, and of whose fate she was
ignorant — he having gone to sea in her infan-
cy, since which, but once or twice, had tidings
been received from him. ‘Sie knew not that
she had a brother —yeta thought of him, and
a hope that he might be living and return to
her sometimes flitted across her mind. But as
year after year rolled away, and nothing was
heard from him, she had ceased to dwell
much upon him, until, at the period of our in-
troduction to her, his existence had nearly pas-
sed from her memory.
The day had been overcast and gloomy on
which our story commenced, and as it drew
towards its close a gale had set in, which every
hour increased in violence. The little family
circle had gathered in the front room in the
evening, each one engaged in such pastime as
best suited their dispositions. Henry had been
looking out of the window, gazing on the long
line of foam which could be dimly seen through
the night flaking the shore, when he made the
remark recorded at the opening of the chapter.
The night did indeed look threatening. A
streng South-easter prevailed, which sent the
long billows with their feathery tops rolling to
the shore: The breaking of the surges came
like the heavy tramping of an army of sea-
gods to the ear, The sound came in one per-
petual moan, which, as the Wind increased,
grew still louder, until to one unaccustomed
to the noise, it would have seemed like heavy
peals of thunder, or the roar of an earth-
quake, .
«A tremendous sea is running,” said young
Volger — “see, father, see, it breaks clear
over Never-sunk ! — our boat is in danger.”
« Never-sunk! — poh, Henry — that cannot
be.
it washed with a wave,” said the old man,
with a tone of doubt, and a smile at his son’s
exaggeration.
«Well, father, you may see it now at any
rate. There— there! ifthere is nota night-cap
of foam on it, I never saw a white gull!”
The old man went to the door followed by
his son. The scene presented to their view
was awfully grand. The wind blew in terrific
gusts — the dashing of the sea drowned their
voices so that it was with difficulty they could
make each other heard, while the whole ex-
tent of coast was bathed in one continuous
sheet of foam. The eyes of the father and
son were beutin one direction, where a high
ridge of rocks, called “Never-sunk,” protected
the little cove we have alluded to from the
open sea. It was but a moment when, true
enough, a thick cloud of foam gleamed on_ its
top, dashed over, aud tumbled down its land-
ward side, making it appear fora time as if
its crevices were filled with drifted snow.
“fT would not have believed it!? said the old
inan, as he turned and entered the house —
“a terrible night will the poor seamen have of,
it, if any are so unfortunate as to be out in this
Pray heaven that none may be on our
coast! No craft would be able to stand such
a gale as this—they would be at the mercy
of the winds and the waves.”
‘© There is one, husband, who holds the sea
in the hollow of His hand: —the winds and
the waves are but the servants of His will —
you surely do not forget ths”, said a mild
and subdued voice.
storm,
I have never in my day seen the top of
[PAYABLE IN ADVANCE
No. 15:
“No, wife, no—Ido not forget! Ihave
reason to remember Him, when, in the hour
of peril, His arm alone protected me. No, no,”
jadded the old man fervently — “blessed be
| His holy name, that the elements are His ser-
vants! Good reason,as Esaid,have I to remem-
ber His mercy. It wason such a night as this
I was once tossed upon the angry sea, in-a
crazy craft, and a rock-bound coast close un-
der our lee.. On, on we drifted, every moment
nearing the shore: nothing could be done, our
masts were sprung and our sails in tatters, and
death staring us full in the face. The boldest
heart quailed as the foaming breakers flashed
through the gloom of night. Every man held
his breath at the dreadful sight, while our ship
continued to drive on — on and on —now rising
high-on the top of the wave, and now sinking
low in the watery hollow —trembling in every
timber like a frightened thing, as ifaware of
her destiny. At last came the shock, as, lifted
bigh ona mountainous billow, we suddenly
settled down on the jagged rocks —one loud
crash —one wild shriek — and the boiling wa-
ters received us! God, in his mysterious provi-
dence, of all that ship’s crew preserved me
alone —why, and for what end, he alone
knoweth — may we never forget Him!” As the
old man uttered these words, he bowed his
head reverentially and his lips moved in silent
prayer.
While the old man thus held communion
with his maker, Alice had taken her stand by
the window. A deep silence prevailed in the
room after Volger had thus hastily related ai
incident in his Sfe, which he never: recurred
to but with deep feeling. ‘The howling of the
wind and the deep murmur of the sea brought
more forcibly to the minds of the listeners
the awfulness of the scene which had been so
vividly though briefly described. All the hor-
rors of that night were before them—it requir-
ed but a faint assistance of the imagination to
bring the reality immediately to the mind’s eye.
Alice, whose susceptibilities were more than
usually keen, stood looking out upon the tem-
pest, wrapt in the thoughts which such a rela-
tion on such a night would naturally call up.
Not a word had been spoken for some minutes
when a sudden exclamation from her lips
broke the silence.
“Look, Henry, look ! she*said in an exe
cited tone — “I surely saw a flash 1?
“A flash ! where —in what direction?”
* There! I see it again —there broad off —
the cove |” Bete
Henry sprung to her side, and bent his eyes
in the direction pointed out: then suddenly
throwing up the window, he loudly’ exclaim
ed :
tress !?
The old man rushed to the open window,
and bent eagerly over the sill as he. strained
his eyes sea-ward. The whole party held
their breath for a moment,as if suddenly trans-
formed to stone. A minute or two of intense
interest went by. Presently a faint flash was
seen, gleaming luridly over the darkened wa-
ters, which was followed by the low boonting
ofa gun, hardly distinguishable amid the up-
rear of the storm,
‘A vessel is driving on the point !” said
the gld man inawildly agitated voice. “God
have merey ou her crew the belp of mun
“Father, father, quick ! it is a signal of dis-
