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Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson
page 18 of 222 (08%)
that took up the burden how the sentiment came home to each, 'The
Anchor's Weighed' was true for us. We were indeed 'Rocked on the
bosom of the stormy deep.' How many of us could say with the
singer, 'I'm lonely to-night, love, without you,' or, 'Go, some
one, and tell them from me, to write me a letter from home'! And
when was there a more appropriate moment for 'Auld Lang Syne' than
now, when the land, the friends, and the affections of that mingled
but beloved time were fading and fleeing behind us in the vessel's
wake? It pointed forward to the hour when these labours should be
overpast, to the return voyage, and to many a meeting in the sanded
inn, when those who had parted in the spring of youth should again
drink a cup of kindness in their age. Had not Burns contemplated
emigration, I scarce believe he would have found that note.

All Sunday the weather remained wild and cloudy; many were
prostrated by sickness; only five sat down to tea in the second
cabin, and two of these departed abruptly ere the meal was at an
end. The Sabbath was observed strictly by the majority of the
emigrants. I heard an old woman express her surprise that 'the
ship didna gae doon,' as she saw some one pass her with a chess-
board on the holy day. Some sang Scottish psalms. Many went to
service, and in true Scottish fashion came back ill pleased with
their divine. 'I didna think he was an experienced preacher,' said
one girl to me.

Is was a bleak, uncomfortable day; but at night, by six bells,
although the wind had not yet moderated, the clouds were all
wrecked and blown away behind the rim of the horizon, and the stars
came out thickly overhead. I saw Venus burning as steadily and
sweetly across this hurly-burly of the winds and waters as ever at
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