232 



AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



The sea looked wrinkled and old, and oh, so pitiless ! 

 I had stood long before Turner's " Shipwreck " in the 

 National Gallery in London, and this sea recalled his, 

 and I appreciated more than ever the artist's great 

 powers. 



These storms it appears, are rotary in their wild 

 dance and promenade up and down the seas. " Look 

 the wind squarely in the teeth," said an ex-sea-captain 

 among the passengers, "and eight points to the right 

 in the northern hemisphere, will be the centre of the 

 storm, and eight points to the left in the southern 

 hemisphere." I remembered that in Victor Hugo's 

 terrible dynamics, storms revolved in the other direc- 

 tion in the northern hemisphere, or followed the hands 

 of a watch, while south of the equator they no doubt 

 have ways equally original. 



Late in the afternoon the storm abated, the fos: was 

 suddenly laid, and looking toward the setting sun, I 

 saw him athwart the wildest, most desolate scene that 

 it was ever my fortune to behold the face of that god. 

 The sea was terribly agitated and the endless succes- 

 sion of leaping frothing waves between me and the 

 glowing west, formed a picture I shall not soon forget. 



I think the excuse that is often made in behalf of 

 American literature, namely, that our people are too 

 busy with other things yet, and will show the proper 

 aptitude in this field too as soon as leisure is afforded, 

 is fully justified by events of daily occurrence. Throw 

 a number of them together without anything else to do, 



