O soft star of the west!

Blessed star!

THE MEETING OF THE SHIPS.

“We take each other by the hand, and we exchange a few words and looks of kindness, and we rejoice together for a few short moments: and then days, months, years intervene, and we see and know nothing of each other.”—Washington Irving.

Two barks met on the deep mid-sea,

When calms had still’d the tide;

A few bright days of summer glee

There found them side by side.

And voices of the fair and brave

Rose mingling thence in mirth;