The story of our homeward voyage must he told in short. We had more
stormy days than bright ones, and more contrary winds than fair
breezes. We left Hebron on Tuesday, September 25th, and on the
following Sunday found ourselves among Greenland icebergs and fogs. So
we had to turn southwards and run on that tack for two days. Then a
moderate side wind followed the strong contrary gale, and we made good
steady progress eastward. This was undoubtedly pleasant after the
heavy rolling and pitching of the previous days. For two weeks and
more nothing was to be seen but sea and sky, yet both had their
interest and beauty. The sunsets were lovely, and the phosphorescent
light in the water at night especially so. The wake of the ship was
luminous for a long distance, and the crests of the waves shone all
around us. Once I was leaning over the taffrail late in the evening,
when a shoal of fish passed. There were thousands of them, and each
one was a living, moving centre of light. Bottle-nosed whales
gambolled around us when we were within a few hundred miles of
Labrador, and later on "schools" of porpoises occasionally visited us.
The latter often sprang clean out of the water, and seemed to take
special delight in crossing the bows of the "Harmony." On October
10th, we sighted the first ship since leaving Labrador, and a day or
two later tacked southward near the coast of Ireland to make the
entrance of the British Channel. There a trial of patience awaited us.
A hard-hearted east wind barred our progress, and with long tacks we
seemed to make headway only by inches. Yet the little "Harmony"
bravely held on her way, when larger vessels had given up the fight.
_Sunday, October 21st._--Up at six, to find the Scilly Isles in sight.
The Bishop's rock and St. Agnes lighthouses were plainly visible. But
the old east wind is back again. The light, fair breeze of yesterday
evening sent us forward fifteen miles in an hour or two, and seventy
or eighty miles of tacking to-day has barely secured as much progress.
Visited the men in the forecastle, a small gloomy looking place, yet
fair as such accommodation goes. The good fellows are cheery and happy
there, indeed, they have been pleasant and faithful to duty throughout
the entire voyage. God grant them the true blessedness we have told
them of in this morning's and previous Sunday services.
_Monday, 22nd._--Weathered the Wolf Rock by this tack. Sighted Land's
End, with its white houses, and the Longships lighthouse on its lofty
rock. A steamer passing us into Penzance answered our signals and will
report us we hope.
_Tuesday, 23rd._--Four weeks away from Labrador. Four months absent
from home. How much longer yet? To windward of the Lizard this
morning. That is good, for we could have run for Falmouth harbour had
it blown harder from the east. But the wind has died away altogether.
The Lizard twin lighthouses and the white walls surrounding them are
plainly visible, as we lie becalmed.
_Wednesday, 24th._--Got a fair wind yesterday, which carried us
forward past the Eddystone Lighthouse. We are now nearing Start Point,
and have shown our signals. They will be seen, and reported either at
that lighthouse or at Prawle Point, and it is quite a relief to think
our presence in the Channel will soon be known in London. What a
contrast there is between our own shores and the coast of Labrador.
_Here_ one is never out of sight of some guiding light, _there_ not a
lighthouse--not a buoy. Such a voyage makes one the more thankful for
the experience and faithfulness of our own valued ship's officers,
tried servants of the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, who
have the interests of that society and of the mission at heart, and
whose annual voyages to Labrador involve a full share of
responsibility and anxiety.
_Thursday, 25th._--Passed the Isle of Wight this morning, and Beachy
Head in the afternoon. As night came on the long rows of electric
lights on the marine parades of Eastbourne, Hastings, and St.
Leonard's were very effective across the water. Got our pilot aboard
at Dungeness just before midnight.
_Friday, 26th._--_Home again!_ How infinitely good is the gracious
Lord, who permits one to go on His errands, and meanwhile takes care
of all that is so dear! We were off Margate when I went on deck, about
7 A.M., and shortly afterwards secured a powerful little tug, which
towed the "Harmony" swiftly up the Thames to London Docks, where she
now lies at her usual moorings, awaiting the hundred and twentieth
voyage.
"Then, at the vessel's glad return,
The absent meet again;
At home, our hearts within us burn
To trace the cunning pen,
Whose strokes, like rays from star to star,
Bring happy messages from far,
And once a year to Britain's shore
Join Christian Labrador."
I lay down the pen which has transcribed those lines of Montgomery's
as a fitting close to my chapter, "Homeward Bound." If it has had any
"cunning," it has been simply because I have described what I have
seen with my own eyes in Christian Labrador. Traversing nearly three
hundred miles of that grand, but bleak and desolate-looking coast, I
met with scarcely any heathen. Only at Ramah I found one or two who
had no Christian names, because they had not yet publicly professed
Christ. They were, however, candidates for baptism, and their few
heathen countrymen to the north of that station are, from time to
time, attracted to the sound of the Gospel. But if the mission in that
land be nearing the close of the evangelistic phase, our task is not
done, and still we hear the voice of the Divine Spirit saying:
Separate me this one and that one for the work whereunto I have called
him in Labrador.
Yet I hope and pray for a wider result from these pages than increased
interest in the one field so closely connected with Britain by the
good ship "Harmony." Labrador in its turn is linked to all the mission
provinces in the world-wide parish given to the little Moravian
Church, and I trust this glimpse into the life and labours of our
devoted missionaries there will quicken the loving intercessions of my
readers for their fellow labourers in all our own fields, and for the
whole great mission work of the Church of Christ.
I will conclude with a stirring stanza[D] from another poet, who found
a theme and an inspiration in contrasting the wretched condition of
the people of Labrador, prior to the arrival of missionaries, with the
wonderful change wrought among the poor Eskimoes through their noble
efforts under the blessing of God.
"When round the great white throne all nations stand,
When Jew and Gentile meet at God's right hand,
When thousand times ten thousand raise the strain--
'Worthy the Lamb that once for us was slain!'
When the bright Seraphim with joy prolong
Through all eternity that thrilling song--
The heathen's universal jubilee,
A music sweet, O Saviour Christ, to Thee--
Say, 'mid those happy strains, will not _one_ note,--
Sung by a hapless nation once remote,
But now led Home by tender cords of love,
Rise clear through those majestic courts above?
Yes! from amid the tuneful, white-robed choirs,
Hymning Jehovah's praise on golden lyres,
_One_ Hallelujah shall for evermore
Tell of the Saviour's love to LABRADOR."
[Illustration]
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