REV. CHARLES T. WALKER, ON HIS RETURN FROM HIS TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND, AGE THIRTY THREE YEARS.
CHAPTER IX.
A COLORED MAN ABROAD.
Mention has already been made of the fact that while Dr. Walker was traveling abroad he wrote weekly letters to the Augusta Sentinel, which were compiled on his return and published in book form, under the name and style of “A Colored Man Abroad.” Extracts from that publication will serve not only to show Dr. Walker’s literary style, but will also be of interest, instruction and entertainment to the reader.
Dr. Walker’s letters from the Holy Land were written for the most part from notes taken on the ground, somewhat as one would keep a diary or a sailor’s log. The second day out from New York, he paid the following
TRIBUTE TO THE SEA.
“The sea is a revelation of the omnipotence of the Almighty! It carries with perfect ease upon its bosom the greatest ships that circumnavigate the globe. It is the home of numerous animals, small and great, as well as the pathway of Jehovah. It is also the tomb of hundreds of thousands of human beings; for the sea has wrecked hundreds of vessels and sailing craft, and holds entombed the bodies of countless shipwrecked people. As we look at the sea, we are reminded of the grand old words of Byron:
‘Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll,
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin,—his control
Stops with the shore,—upon the watery plain