surging bosom he
was drifted. But the complex machinery of this world is set in motion
and guided by One whose power and wisdom infinitely transcend those of
the most exalted of His creatures; and it is a truth well worthy of
being reiterated and re-impressed upon our memories, that in His hands
those events that seem most adverse to man often turn out to be for his
good.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

EDITH WAXES MELANCHOLY, BUT HER SADNESS IS SUDDENLY TURNED INTO JOY; AND
THE ESQUIMAUX RECEIVE A SURPRISE, AND FIND A FRIEND, AND LOSE ONE.

The sea! How many stout hearts thrill and manly bosoms swell at the
sound of that little word, or rather at the thought of all that it
conveys! How many there are that reverence and love thy power and
beauty, thy freedom and majesty, O sea! Wherein consists the potent
charm that draws mankind towards thee with such irresistible affection?
Is it in the calm tranquillity of thy waters, when thou liest like a
sheet of crystal, with a bright refulgent sky reflected in thy soft
bosom, and the white ships resting there as if in empty space, and the
glad sea-mews rippling thy surface for a brief moment and then sailing
from the blue below to the deeper blue above, and the soft song of thy
wavelets as they slide upon the shingly shore or lip among the caves and
hollows of the rocks! Or is it in the loud roar of thy billows, as they
dash and fume and lash in fury on the coasts that dare to curb thy
might?--that might which, commencing, mayhap, in the torrid zone of the
south, has rolled and leaped in majesty across the waste of waters,
tossed leviathans as playthings in its strength, rushed impetuously over
half the globe, and burst at last in helplessness upon a bed of sand!
Or does the charm lie in the yet fiercer strife of the tempest and the
hurricane, when the elements, let loose, sweep round the shrinking world
in fury; or in the ever-changing aspect of thy countenance, now bright
and fair, now ruffled with the rising breeze, or darkened by the
thunder-cloud that bodes the coming storm!

Ah yes! methinks not one but all of these combined do constitute the
charm which draws mankind to thee, bright ocean, and fills his soul with
sympathy and love. For in the changeful aspects of thy visage there are
talismans which touch the varied chords that vibrate in the hearts of
men. Perchance, in the bold whistle of thy winds, and the mad rolling
of thy waves, an emblem of freedom is recognis