Page:Our Neighbor-Mexico.djvu/47

Rh long, as if they themselves were tired out, and the steamer swung to and fro evenly and weariedly.

As the storm is gone, so that more violent one of sin shall blow over, and the race of man, like a convalescent but tired child in the arms of its mother, shall rock itself to sleep in the arms of its Saviour, God. Cowper's words, so befitting that sick and weary ship-company, are not an unbefitting prophecy. I was comforted with them as I lay in that tossing berth:

 Six thousand years of sorrow have well-nigh Fulfilled their tardy and disastrous course Over a sinful world; and what remains Is merely as the working of a sea Before a calm that rocks itself to rest."

Are our present waves the passing away of this Norther of sin? Is the level sea of universal grace and goodness appearing? It is; but perhaps many a Norther must yet rage before the heavenly and perpetual calm prevails.

A good word may be said for most of God's creatures, and the Norther has its bright side. But for it, Vera Cruz could not exist. It may create qualms on shipboard, but it drives away the yellow fever on shore. Its coming concludes that pestilence, though it is said to also conclude the lives of all prostrated with the disease at its coming, their relaxed system succumbing to its over-tonical force. So we may accept the lesser evil in view of the greater blessings that it brings, and rejoice that Northers rage in the Gulf of Mexico.

The reason why this storm prevents a landing is that there is no real harbor here, and the situation of the port is such that the north wind drives the waves straight on and over the mole, its only dock, which is a few hundred feet long. The waters rise and roll over this wharf, and prevent all landing. Indeed, the waves could hardly allow a boat upon them, were a landing possible, so high they mount. When it is on, communication ceases, and visitors to the ship, or sailors on the shore, have no means of getting to