the realization of fortune and
honor.

The immensity, the majesty, and the wonders of the sea are manifest,
and acknowledged by all. But what can surpass its beauty when in repose!
What scene can be more sublimely beautiful than the sea when gazed upon
from the mast-head of a ship, gliding along as if impelled by the breath
of a fairy! Every thing in the vicinity, as well as the vast expanse
stretching out on every side, is calculated to inspire confidence,
invite security, and give complete reliance on its gentle and pacific
character. While enjoying the delightful scene, the passions are hushed.
The sea seems the blest abode of tranquillity. We are alive only to its
beauty, its grace, its magnitude, its power to interest and charm, to
benefit mankind and beautify the world.

And how calmly beautiful is the close of day! What nameless charms
cluster around a sunset at sea! The heavens and light clouds are not
clad in purple and gold; but the western sky is attractive and lovely
in the richness of its sober brilliancy. The sun, with undivided
glory, goes down in the west, sinking gently and gradually beneath the
well-defined horizon, like the spirit of a good man in the evening of
life, departing for a better world.

Night drops her curtain only to change the scene and invest it with
holier attributes. The moon sheds her light on the surface of the ocean.
No sounds break the stillness of the hour as the ship, urged by the
favored breeze, quietly, yet perseveringly, pursues her course, save the
murmuring ripple of the waves, the measured tread of the officer of the
watch as he walks the deck, the low, half-stifled creaking of a block as
if impatient of inactivity, the occasional flap of a sail awakened out
of its sleep, and the stroke of the bell every half hour to mark the
lapse of time, sending its musical, ringing notes far over the water.
What a time is this for study, for contemplation, for enjoyment! The
poet Gilfillan, in describing a lovely night at sea, says, with true
poetic warmth and energy,

"Night closed around the ship; no sound
Save of the splashing sea
Was heard. The waters all around
Murmured so pleasantly,
You would have thought the mermaids sung
Down in their coral caves,
So softly and so sweetly rang
The music of the waves!"

Were such scenes always met with at sea, was its surface always smooth,
the winds favorable and the sky unclouded, little reso