Oh, it did not need a prophet to tell what the end must be,
For no ship could ride in safety near that shore on such a sea!

Then the pitying people hurried from their homes and thronged the beach.
Oh, for power to cross the waters and the perishing to reach!
Helpless hands were wrung in terror, tender hearts grew cold with dread,
And the ship, urged by the tempest, to the fatal rock-shore sped.

"She's parted in the middle! Oh, the half of her goes down!"
"God have mercy! Is his heaven far to seek for those who drown?"
Lo! when next the white, shocked faces looked with terror on the sea,
Only one last clinging figure on a spar was seen to be.

Nearer to the trembling watchers came the wreck tossed by the wave,
And the man still clung and floated, though no power on earth could save.
"Could we send him a short message? Here's a trumpet. Shout away!"
'Twas the preacher's hand that took it, and he wondered what to say.

Any memory of his sermon? Firstly? Secondly? Ah, no!
There was but one thing to utter in that awful hour of woe.
So he shouted through the trumpet, "Look to Jesus!
Can you hear?" And "Aye, aye, sir," rang the answer o'er the waters loud
and clear.

Then they listened,--"He is singing, 'Jesus, lover of my soul.'"
And the winds brought back the echo, "While the nearer waters roll."
Strange, indeed, it was to hear him,--"Till the storm of life is past,"
Singing bravely o'er the waters, "Oh, receive my soul at last!"

He could have no other refuge,--"Hangs my helpless soul on thee."
"Leave, ah! leave me not"--the singer dropped at last into the sea.
And the watchers, looking homeward, through their eyes by tears made dim,
Said, "He passed to be with Jesus in the singing of that hymn."

_Marianne Faringham._

A Fence or an Ambulance

'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;
But over its terrible edge there had slipped
A duke and full many a peasant.
So the people said something would have to be done,
But their projects did not at all tally;
Some said, "Put a fence around the edge of the cliff,"
Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."

But the cry for the ambulance carried the day,
For it spread through the neighboring city;
A fence may be useful or not, it is true,
But each heart became brimful of pity
For those who slipped over that dangerous cliff;
And the dwellers in highway and alley
Gave pounds o