The Captain's Daughter

The Captain's Daughter by James Thomas Fields

"The Captain's Daughter," by James T. Fields (1816-81), carries weight with every young audience. It is pointed to an end that children love--viz., trust in a higher power.

    We were crowded in the cabin,
      Not a soul would dare to sleep,--
    It was midnight on the waters,
      And a storm was on the deep.

   'Tis a fearful thing in winter
      To be shattered by the blast,
    And to hear the rattling trumpet
      Thunder, "Cut away the mast!"

    So we shuddered there in silence,--
      For the stoutest held his breath,
    While the hungry sea was roaring
      And the breakers talked with Death.

    As thus we sat in darkness,
      Each one busy with his prayers,
   "We are lost!" the captain shouted
      As he staggered down the stairs.

    But his little daughter whispered,
      As she took his icy hand,
   "Isn't God upon the ocean,
      Just the same as on the land?"

    Then we kissed the little maiden.
      And we spoke in better cheer,
    And we anchored safe in harbour
      When the morn was shining clear.

 ["The 'village smithy' stood in Brattle Street, Cambridge. There came a
 time when the chestnut-tree that shaded it was cut down, and then the
 children of the place put their pence together and had a chair made for
 the poet from its wood."]