THE GREAT MIRKOR 



93 



dor of the constellations and girdled I)y the 

 Milky Way — what mantles of the Invisible are 

 these ! And what elusive, intangible beauty ! 

 How strange the thought that the light al)Ove 

 shines through the blue, not from it; and that 

 from below it comes up to the surface as from 

 the very ocean depths ! 



Mere points of light glittering in the air and 

 rocking in the water ! Yet these were the guid- 

 ing stars of the Tyrian and Sidonian ships 

 long centuries ago. The Portuguese and the 

 Italian trusted to them when the compass for- 

 sook them, steering by the North Star — a mere 

 manifestation of a world millions of miles 

 away. And are we not to-day trusting to the 

 sun shining upon a sextant — another light far 

 removed and uncomprehended ? Surely we 

 have walked by faith and not by knowledge all 

 the days of our years. 



Midnight and stars on the sea! What mys- 

 teries lurk in those soft windless nights when 

 the black yard-arms go swinging slowly across 

 the constellations, when the black smoke trails 

 far behind, and the blue-black water glances all 

 around ! Oh, the dark beauty of the blue, the 

 serene splendor of the starry white, the inten- 

 sity, the immensity of this transparent world ! 

 We glide through it steaming, under the Bear 



Star-fields, 



Guiding 

 stars. 



Dark wind- 

 less nights. 



