JACK-SHOOTING IN A FOGGY NIGHT. 179 



and west, whence at intervals a thin gleam of 

 lightning shone reflected from some far-off nether 

 region, the low growl of thunder was occasionally 

 lieard. Above, in the clear, cool blue, the star 

 which never moves,' the Dipper, and countless 

 other orbs, differing in glory, revealed in sharp, 



(clear outlines their stellary formations. The wave- 

 less water was to these heavens a perfect mirror ; 

 and over that seamless surface, over planets and 

 * worlds shining beneath us, over systems and con- 

 stellations the minutest star of which was visible 

 ^he softly glided. With bowed head I gazed into 

 ^Hiat illuminated sea. I thought of that other sea 

 ^^niich is "of glass like unto crystal" before the 

 ^^Krone, and the glory which must forever be re- 

 ^nected up from its depths. "Is this the same 

 world of cities and cursing in which I lived a 

 week ago ? " I said to myself, " or have I been 

 translated to some other and happier sphere ? " 

 Around me on all sides, as I gazed, Night dusky 

 and dim sat on the mountains, and brooded over 

 the starry sea, and the all-enveloping silence of the 

 wilderness rested solemnly over all. As I sat and 

 mused, — yea, and worshipped, — memory stirred 

 within me; the words of the Psalmist came to 

 my lips, and I murmured, " This is night which 

 showeth vdsdom, and the melody of wliich has 

 gone out tlu^ough all the world." 



My meditations were somewhat rudely interrupt- 



