, the seabird's startled cry;
Like spirits in the dark, we saw the coasters flitting by.
High in their towers the beacons burned, like wintry embers red,
From Ipswich, down the rough sea-line, to crag-girt Marblehead.
'I love you, Nan!' Joe said, at last, in his grave, simple way--
I'd felt the words a-coming, child, for many a long, glad day.
I hung my head, he kissed me--oh, sweetest hour of life!
A stammering word, a sigh, and I was Joe's own promised wife.

"But fishing-folks have much to do; my lover could not stay--
The gallant Gloucester fleet was bound to waters far away,
Where wild storms swoop, and shattering fogs muster their dim, gray
ranks,
And spread a winding-sheet for men upon the fatal Banks.
And he, my Joe, must go to reap the harvest of the deep,
While I, like other women, stayed behind to mourn and weep,
And I would see his face no more till autumn woods were brown.
His schooner _Nan_ was swift and new, the pride of Gloucester town;
He called her by my name. ''Tis sure to bring me luck,' said Joe.
She spread her wings, and through my tears I stood and watched her
go.

"The days grew hot and long; I sewed the crisp and shining seams
Of this, my wedding-gown, and dreamed a thousand happy dreams
Of future years and Joe, while leaf and bud and sweet marsh-flower
I fashioned on the muslin fine, for many a patient hour.
In Gloucester wood the wild rose bloomed, and shed its sweets and
died,
And dry and tawny grew the grass along the marshes wide.
The last stitch in my gown was set; I looked across the sea--
'Fly fast, oh, time, fly fast!' I said, 'and bring him home to me;
And I will deck my yellow hair and don my bridal gown,
The day the gallant fishing-fleet comes back to Gloucester town!'

"The rough skies darkened o'er the deep, loud blew the autumn
gales;
With anxious eyes the fishers' wives watched for the home-bound
sails
From Gloucester shore, and Rockport crags, lashed by the breakers
dread,
From cottage doors of Beverly, and rocks of Marblehead.
Ah, child, with trembling hand I set my candle at the pane,
With fainting heart and choking breath, I heard the dolorous rain--
The sea that beat the groaning beach with wild and thunderous
shocks,
The black death calling, call