Slowly the multitude dispersed, with many shakings of the head and doubtful looks, with many whisperings among themselves, and many misgivings of the heart, that they had taken their last look of the gallant bark.
A MONTH had rolled away since the departure of the ship, when one night the inhabitants of Salem were aroused from their beds, to behold a strange sight in the heavens. It was that of a large ship, apparently under full sail, with every yard braced up, and every square inch of canvass spread to its full extent; but from every point, from deck to trucks and from stem to stern, wide lurid flames of fire were streaming up, with fearful and appalling brilliancy. For two more nights the same scene was witnessed, with this difference on the third, that the ship was seen to go down very suddenly below the horizon in the height of the conflagration, instead of fading away gradually, as on the two previous nights. It 'was an honest ghost' of THE DOOMED SHIP. The 'Countess of Pembroke' was never heard of more.
BY MISS MARY GARDINER, OF SHELTER-ISLAND, SUFFOLK COUNTY.
BENEATH the quenchless light Of the broad day-god's life-imparting ray, Wrapt in the gloomy clouds of mental night That round him thickly lay, The ancient Persian bowed, and at that shrine Worshipped the glorious effluence as divine.
THOU! whose creative voice Called from the depths of chaos form and might, Bade at a word unnumbered worlds rejoice In that effulgent light; Sun of the Universe! to THEE I bow, Almighty GOD! list to my humble offering now!
Before the stars of night In circling systems moved through yonder sky, THOU! from Eternity's unmeasured height, Wrapt in immensity, Beheld the earth chaotic solitude, And ages roll away in their infinitude.
Can human thought explore The boundaries of THY kingdom, or define Mid all the orbs that sweep the blue vault o'er Those that remotest shine? E'en Science pauses in her proud career, Furls her tired wing and sinks o'erwhelmed to Earth's low sphere.
Before her glancing eye The clouds of ignorance have rolled away; She calls the lightning from its throne on high, And marks the planet's way; Bids the frail bark o'er Ocean's bosom glide, And from her mystic cells rolls back the heaving tide.