Creole Sketches/Sons of the Sea
SONS OF THE SEA[1]
They come to us from the uttermost parts of the earth, with the winds that swell the white sails of their vessels. There is a sparkle in their eyes like the sparkle of a distant sea; and a faraway look acquired by the habit of gazing over the infinite expanse of rolling water. They walk with a swaying motion learned from the gait of their own ships, and there is a tone in their voices like the tone of sea-winds roaring through the rigging.
They have passed over all seas, and heard a hundred tongues spoken.
And coming into a city; leaving the rocking deck for the motionless earth, they still wear a quiet dreamy look, as of men accustomed to the sight of Nature in her most infinite aspect, and not liable therefore to be impressed greatly by the sight of the handiwork of Man.
But at times human frailty asserts itself; — the stern discipline of the sea has made the sailors long for some wild frolic on land; — strong drink and women hold out siren-temptations.
What wonder is it? Was not even Ulysses, that wisest of sailors, once obliged to bind himself to the mast lest the song of an enchantress might lure him to destruction? The old sea-dogs are usually wise, like Ulysses; but the young ones will have their day.
Then again we have swarthy sailors from sunny West Indian ports, who wander about seeking for those who speak their own tongue, in order to sell odorous packages of cigars concealed in their pockets — cigars in which all the soporific fragrance of the tropics seems concentrated.
And having performed their little work of contrabandistas, they depart to enjoy a little fun with the profits thereof.
So do they sail from port to port; — more wearied by their stay on shore than by mighty wrestling with the Giant of Storms; for the whisky is not good, and there are other things which are worse.
But the sea who loves her children braces their strength up once more with the elixir of her bright winds; and drives away the fumes of a night of orgy, as evil dreams are scattered by daylight.
And as the sailors call east and west and north and south; buffeted by wild winds; struggling with raging waves; making brief visits to strange ports; collecting dreamy memories of foreign lands; — until the time comes for them to sail into that weird sea which is waveless and shoreless and shadowless and forever silent, and from which no mariner ever returns.
- ↑ Item, September I, 1880.