COLUMBUS.
We are greatly indebted to Joaquin Miller for his "Sail On! Sail On!"
Endurance is the watchword of the poem and the watchword of our
republic. Every man to his gun! Columbus discovered America in his own
mind before he realised it or proved its existence. I have often drawn
a chart of Columbus's life and voyages to show what need he had of the
motto "Sail On!" to accomplish his end. This is one of our greatest
American poems. The writer still lives in California.
Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said: "Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone;
Speak, Admiral, what shall I say?"
"Why say, sail on! and on!"
"My men grow mut'nous day by day;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak."
The stout mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave wash'd his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say, at break of day:
'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"
They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanch'd mate said;
"Why, now, not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.
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