A Ship Sails.
When on the evening of December 1, 1898, the old Clyde steamer drifted
out from her docks into mid stream in the harbor of Wilmington, among
the host of passengers that stood upon her deck, with tear-dimmed eyes,
to bid adieu to the dear old town was Molly Pierrepont. Leaning upon the
shoulder of her foster mother, whose heart was too full to speak, she
frantically waved her handkerchief and cried "Farewell, old home! Dear
as thou hast been to me, I must leave thee for ever; for thou art in the
possession of the wicked. The spoiler is in thy borders. The blood of
innocents has flowed freely in thy highways, and the murderer and the
assassin stalk abroad in thy streets. But it matters not where I go, thy
days of equity, when every citizen, it mattered not how humble, was
free, shall ever live with me. Days of childhood innocence, the shouts
of the children, the clang of the school bell, the rippling of the
rills, the hum of bees will be the means of helping me to forget thy
latter days of turmoil and strife. Good-bye, old home! Good-bye!"