began carving the sirloin: "We have seen the light," he said. "Madam,
may I help you to a little gravy, or a little horse-radish?" or what
not?

I forget the name of the light; nor does it matter. It was a point
off Newfoundland for which he was on the look-out, and so well did the
"Canada" know where she was, that, between soup and beef, the captain
had sighted the headland by which his course was lying.

And so through storm and darkness, through fog and midnight, the ship
had pursued her steady way over the pathless ocean and roaring seas, so
surely that the officers who sailed her knew her place within a minute
or two, and guided us with a wonderful providence safe on our way. Since
the noble Cunard Company has run its ships, but one accident, and that
through the error of a pilot, has happened on the line.

By this little incident (hourly of course repeated, and trivial to all
sea-going people) I own I was immensely moved, and never can think of
it but with a heart full of thanks and awe. We trust our lives to these
seamen, and how nobly they fulfil their trust! They are, under heaven,
as a providence for us. Whilst we sleep, their untiring watchfulness
keeps guard over us. All night through that bell sounds at its season,
and tells how our sentinels defend us. It rang when the "Amazon" was
on fire, and chimed its heroic signal of duty, and courage, and honor.
Think of the dangers these seamen undergo for us: the hourly peril and
watch; the familiar storm; the dreadful iceberg; the long winter nights
when the decks are as glass, and the sailor has to climb through icicles
to bend the stiff sail on the yard! Think of their courage and their
kindnesses in cold, in tempest, in hunger, in wreck! "The women and
children to the boats," says the captain of the "Birkenhead," and, with