468 HISTORY OF COH ASSET. 



unwilling to talk about it, and soon walked away. By his side 

 stood one of the lifeboat men, in an oilcloth jacket, who told us 

 how they went to the relief of the British brig, thinking that the 

 boat of the St. John, which they passed on the way, held all her 

 crew, — for the waves prevented their seeing those who were on 

 the vessel, though they might have saved some had they known 

 there were any there. A little further was the flag of the St. John 

 spread on a rock to dry, and held down by stones at the corners. 

 This frail, but essential and significant portion of the vessel, which 

 had so long been the sport of the winds, was sure to reach the 

 shore. There were one or two houses visible from these rocks, in 

 which were some of the survivors recovering from the shock 

 which their bodies and minds had sustained. One was not ex- 

 pected to live. 



We kept on down the shore as far as a promontory called White 

 Head, that we might see more of the Cohasset rocks. In a little 

 cove, within half a mile, there were an old man and his son col- 

 lecting, with their team, the seaweed which that fatal storm had 

 cast up, as serenely employed as if there had never been a wreck 

 in the world, though they were within sight of the Grampus Rock, 

 on which the St. John had struck. The old man had heard that 

 there was a wreck, and knew most of the particulars, but he said 

 that he had not been up there since it happened. It was the 

 wrecked weed that concerned him most, rockweed, kelp, and 

 seaweed, as he named them, which he carted to his barnyard ; 

 and those bodies were to him but other weeds which the tide cast 

 up, but which were of no use to him. We afterwards came to the 

 lifeboat in its harbor, waiting for another emergency, — and in 

 the afternoon we saw the funeral procession at a distance, at the 

 head of which walked the captain with the other survivors. 



On the whole, it was not so impressive a scene as I might have 

 expected. If I had found one body cast upon the beach in 

 some lonely place, it would have affected me more. I sympa- 

 thized rather with the winds and waves, as if to toss and mangle 

 these poor human bodies was the order of the day. If this was 

 the law of Nature, why waste any time in awe or pity? If the 

 last day were come, we should not think so much about the sepa- 

 ration of friends or the blighted prospects of individuals. I saw 

 that corpses might be multiplied, as on the field of battle, till 



