sea was rushing in
terrifically.

All was now a scene of confusion; some applied themselves diligently to
the pumps, and others sought to diminish the leak by stretching a sail
across the gap, while the passengers hurried, some one way, and some
another, as if in a state of frenzy. To seek assistance from the
propeller, even if she might not be in as disastrous a condition as
themselves, was out of the question; for both vessels being under full
headway at the moment of the collision, she was now again enveloped in
fog. Oh, God! must it be thus? no escape for these three hundred beings?
What an awful moment of suspense! Still the steamer settles down; what
is done must be done speedily. The captain is without his first officer,
with whom he might consult, his absence necessarily detracting from the
number of boats; but had the boats been suffered to remain unmolested,
for the benefit of the passengers, it were doubtful if they could have
contained so large a number. Where now are those gladsome little
children, those aged men and women, who, listening to those voices of
childhood, would fain have believed themselves young again? Ah! where
are they? Wringing their hands in wild despair! clambering over the
sides of the ship, endeavoring to save themselves on rafts, spars, or
articles affording inferior protection.

The Sea-flower,--where is she? where is her aged protector? Upon the
deck of that ill-fated steamer the Sea-flower kneels, with eyes meekly
turned heavenward. She asks that peace may be shed upon the hearts of
that agonized throng; that they may fitly receive this will of divine
dispensation. Never was her countenance more serene. Just then a voice
was heard at her side,--"we are going home;" it was the voice of the
noble officer, who had before noted her words.

"I was happy," replied Natalie, "when I said we are going home, but I
did not realize we would so soon meet the loved ones in that celestial
home, where we shall part no more forever; and I am happy now; yet this
terrible cry of anguish incites my deep, deep sympathies."

"Thank God for this presence of an angel, to shed light over my last
hour!" said the officer; "I now go down through that dark valley of
death, unattended by that gloom which had seized upon my soul. My God,
in mercy wilt thou sustain my wife and children, when they shall look
for my coming, and I shall never return to them more! and may they soon
meet me there." (He knew not th