A LESSON FROM THE WRECKS.
Returning from India during the southwest monsoon, we tossed twenty-six days on the Indian Ocean. Rain and wind beat the steamer from side to side. During those long days nothing was to be seen but clouds and the dark, raging sea. The captain, one evening about five o’clock, invited us to go with him to the pilot bridge. Clinging to anything that would give us support, we soon reached the slender structure that spans the deck. Just ahead we saw the French mail steamer in as much trouble as ourselves—sometimes high up on a wave, and then almost lost to view as she sank amid the dark waters. We were near the straits of Babel Mandeb. Suddenly the French steamer lay quiet, and then went steaming smoothly along, while we made another headlong plunge. “Never mind,” said the captain, “this is about the last one.” In a few seconds our steamer shook herself loose from the wave, gave a shudder, and, lo, we also were at rest, and on water so smooth there was not a ripple! We had just turned from the Indian Ocean into the quiet waters leading to the Red Sea. “Well,” said I to the captain, “we can sleep in peace to-night.” He made no answer, but entering into the chart room began a careful study of the channel. After half an hour of smooth sailing he touched my arm and said:— I looked toward the African coast, and saw a fine steamer at rest. “It is a wreck,” said he surprised. I answered, “It looks all right.” “Yes, but it is a lost ship.” In an hour we passed seven wrecks. “How is it they get into trouble in these quiet waters?” I asked. “They did not study their chart, but followed false lights along the shore, or in the wake of steamers they thought to be right,” he answered. Let us learn a lesson from these wrecks. As we sail over the ocean of time, let us not follow others, or false lights, but study our chart, the Bible, and be guided by Him who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the light.”—Selected.