THE SUGAR-BOILER'S VISION.

"Three fishers went sailing away to the west,
Away to the west as the sun went down;

Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbor-bar be moaning.

"Three wives sat up in the light-house tower,

And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown.
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden and waters deep,
And the harbor-bar be moaning.

"Three corpses lay out on the shining sands,

In the morning gleam as the tide went down.
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands,
For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep;

And good-bye to the bar and its moaning."

I.

T is a straight, brawny, Saxon-eyed, Saxon-haired

stamping the snow from his feet, and fastening his brown mare "Speed" to the tall, out-branching, snowladen apple-tree, planted by his father the day that he

was born. You can see the thrifty tree that it is, and you can see my hero and hear him singing, humming and whistling all in a breath, over and over again, the refrain from that sweet old love-song of the sea, "A sailor's wife, a sailor's star shall be." The blood is coursing, fast and strong, through all the veins and arteries of my handsome youth, hanging out its banners of health in the fair white skin and red cheek, and in the perfect clearness of the eye as well-the blue eye which betokens wealth of mind, strength of purpose and the will to accomplish!

And so, I say, he looked young, to be sure, but with a mind and a will that man nor the devil could not, nor would not shake nor bend! Ah, but he was a brave and handsome fellow, believe, as he stood there, in the brilliant sunshine of that snow-covered country of New England's eastern shore. He had a big sorrow in his heart, sing as loud as he may, bright, fair and full of life as he certainly was-his first, great and terrible grief! Was not his darling father's ship wrecked, in sight of home, one year ago, and not one spared to ease the story to his mother's ear, or bring one message of adieu to worshiped wife and boy! That dreadful eastern shore in winter and spring that "gathers them in-yes, gathers them in!" God help the poor fishermen's wives and bairns!

"For men must work and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep
And the harbor-bar be moaning."

The sailor's eyes and thoughts go far out and over

the ocean this morning, and he believes now, if his mother will but spare him for a few months, or a year or two at most, he will go one seeking voyage; and with him, in his mind, shall go the stories told him by his father, on watch, in nights at sea. Of the warm and beautiful islands in the middle Pacific, where he when young had touched for stores before going to the far North for whale. Of a land so rich in sunshine and shadow-of peace and perfect beauty-of palm, of pomegranate, of laden trees of richest golden fruit, mango, banana, guava, orange, tamarind, of flowering tree and shrub and bush, of clear white moonlight nights-a land where he could have wished to live and die, but for the dear girl of his heart, his "blueeyed Mary," who was born and bred on the far-off eastern shore, and whose heart would cling, he feared, to her childhood's home. Ah, the cruel shore! What did it, in the end, bring to her but heart-wreck and death!

The world may all be wrong, but never shall that which we find within ourselves have power to charm! And so, my Saxon boy did not care for, could not love the old merchant's pretty, fair-haired Jeannie — but must needs sue and beg and tease for Alice, poor, oneeyed sailor Jim's dark-eyed, merry-hearted little lassie!

Now, he would have his will and way (a will it was, determined and almost fierce) about that one voyage of discovery! And mother nor love must not thwart him there! He would make the venture in his own pretty clipper ship, and Alice must consent to be both

son and daughter to his mother until he came back to keep their wedding feast and festival in the little "Church of St. John," where he and she were christened when babies "Alice" and "John"; where, before he went voyages with his father, he had sung as chorister boy from the time he could read. Now, his clear tenor voice would ring out in the chants and hymns of the Church's grand old liturgy.

The little girl's heart was very sad in thinking of the long time of separation and of the mother's new grief, at thought of her comfort and her stay thousands of miles away and alone upon the sea.

Yes, alone in his cabin, but for one trusty mate.

"For men must work and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbor-bar be moaning."

And now Christmas is passed, the pretty betrothal ring is on the finger, the last kiss is given to mother and sweetheart, and the strong, white-winged bird, "The Success," puts out to sea! May God be with him, my good, brave-hearted boy! is the mother's

prayer.

II.

Here is my strong, broad-shouldered sailor-anchored after a fifteen months' cruise. Yes, anchored fast and sure, at these sugar-producing islandsHawaii.

He has found the fair paradise of which he dreamed he has sold his tidy little ship, put the money into

cane-invested in the Kapioanelani plantation. But the rains did not come this year for this district! The irrigation is defective! There are no dividends for him at present! Time may mend matters.

He will not fret, he says; he has youth and health, and if he loses that which his father earned, he will redeem it every dollar, or die in the attempt. And so I find him here to-night, resting his tired head upon his arms in the old sugar-mill, for he is chief sugar-boiler of the Nakaona plantation, which is an old and safe one, and has for many years brought in fabulous sums of money to its owners-tons upon tons of sweetest sugar.

The head-manager, a shrewd, wise, good-hearted man, well into the fifties, has had his ups and downshis taste of the sea, his youth on the eastern shore as well-his home beloved, his wreck-his dead! He determines that the sailor captain shall have the vacant post which always commands a high salary on a wellto-do plantation. It is a difficult work; by night and by day, unceasing vigilance, skill and patience. Long hours' watch by night-hot hours' work by day! No money must be lost, no sugar go to waste for want of eyes or wakefulness!

But this is Christmas eve again, and two long years have passed since he sailed off so confident and full of hope-so sure of home and gain in a twelve-month! "Never mind!" he says again, he will work for one year more here, and then he will go back to the snows and storms of his eastern shore! Back to home and