Hum] AND SYMBOLS. 153 



unless you know the temperature of the hospitality which he 

 has accustomed himself to. HA. 



Human Sympathy. 



No part of the world affords a more difficult or dangerous 

 navigation than the approaches of our northern coast in winter. 

 Before the warmth of the Gulf Stream was known, a voyage at 

 this season from Europe to New England, New York, and even 

 to the capes of the Delaware or Chesapeake, was many times 

 more trying, difficult, and dangerous than it now is. In making 

 this part of the coast, vessels are frequently met by snowstorms 

 and gales which mock the seaman's strength and set at naught 

 his skill. In a little while his bark becomes a mass of ice ; 

 with her crew frosted and helpless, she remains obedient only 

 to her helm, and is kept away for the Gulf Stream. After a 

 few hours' run she reaches its edge, and almost at the next 

 bound passes from the midst of winter into a sea at summer 

 heat. Now the ice disappears from her apparel ; the sailor 

 bathes his stiffened limbs in tepid waters ; feeling himself 

 invigorated and refreshed with the genial warmth about him, 

 he realises out there at sea the fable of Antaeus and his mother 

 Earth. He rises up, and attempts to make his port again, and 

 is again as rudely met and beat back from the north-west ; but 

 each time that he is driven off from the contest, he comes forth 

 from this stream, like the ancient son of Neptune, stronger and 

 stronger, until, after many days, his freshened strength pre- 

 vails, and he at last triumphs and enters his haven in safety. 

 His experiences bear a resemblance to those of the man who 

 is tempest-tossed upon the sea of social life. This man, struggling 

 in what Shakespeare designates " a sea of troubles," has to brave 

 great billows of adversity and to face the chilling blasts of 

 misfortune. He is well-nigh hopeless and powerless, when he 

 suddenly encounters the warm stream of human sympathy 

 which flows even into society's most icy regions. Under its 

 vitalising influences the horrors of his despair melt away ; his 

 heart glows with renewed hope; he is nerved with fresh 

 strength for a successful struggle against his calamities, so that 

 he is able at length to accomplish his destined purpose. T. 



