y of you ever feel the pangs of thirst? Day after day
our shattered bark lay rolling on the burning ocean. There was the
constant gush of water to tantalise us, for by undiscovered leaks the
sea had found an entrance, and in every watch the pumps were kept at
work. We were thankful when a breeze came, and once more the ship moved
across the ocean; but the breeze increased into a gale more fearful than
the first. On, on we drove; the leaks again increased. Day and night
the men were kept toiling at the pumps; my husband worked like the rest.
In vain, in vain; they could work no longer; the water was gaining on
us; the raging seas were washing over our decks. The strength of the
men was exhausted. Some of the women offered to try and work the pumps.
The night was coming on. I resolved to labour, that I might aid to
save my husband's life, our boy's, my own.

"My boy had clung to me. I gave him, so I thought, to his father, to
watch over, while I laboured like the rest. Would you hear what
occurred? My heart has grown into stone, or I could not bear to tell
it. The raging seas broke more and more frequently over the ship. The
dreadful cry arose, `The ship is sinking, the ship is sinking!' I flew
towards my husband--my child was not with him. He had not received him
from me. Frantically I rushed along the deck; it was with no hope of
safety, but to die with my boy in my arms. Once more I was approaching
my husband; a flash of lightning revealed him to me at the moment that a
vast sea came sweeping down on the ship. It seized him in its cruel
embrace, and bore him far, far away, with many other helpless, shrieking
beings. Thankfully would I have followed, but I sought my boy. In
vain, in vain! I felt myself seized by a strong arm, and lifted into a
boat. I lost all consciousness for the next instant, it seemed. I
found the boat floating alone amid the tumultuous waves. My husband and
my boy were gone. They said there were other boats, and that some might
have been saved in them. I know not if any were saved. Neither my
husband nor our child did I ever again see; the cold, cruel waves had
claimed them. For many days we lay tossed about on the foaming waters.
We were more dead than alive when a sail appeared in sight. How I lived
I know not; it was, I believe, because all my feelings were dead. I
felt nothing, thought of nothing; I was in a dream, a cold, heavy weight
lay on my heart and brain. I