The signal given, with hasty strides The sailors line their ships' dark sides, Their anchors weighed, and from the shore Each stately vessel slowly bore. High o'er the deep and shadowed flood, Upon his deck their leader stood, And turned him to departed land, And bowed his head and waved his hand. And then, along the crowded strand, A sound of many sounds combined, That waxed and waved upon the wind, Burst like heaven's thunder, deep and grand; A lengthened peal, which paused, and then Renewed, like that which loathly parts, Oft on the ear returned again, The impulse of a thousand hearts. But as the lengthened shouts subside, Distincter accents strike the ear, Wafting across the current wide Heart-uttered words of parting cheer: "Oh, shall we ever see again Those gallant souls across the main? God keep the brave! God be their guide! God bear them safe through storm and tide! Their sails with favoring breezes swell! O brave Columbus, fare thee well!"--_Ibid._ THE NAVIGATOR AND THE ISLANDS. MATURIN MURRAY BALLOU, American author. Compiler of "Pearls of Thought" and similar works. Born in Boston, Mass., April 14, 1822. From "Due South," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1887. The name of Columbus flashes a bright ray over the mental darkness of the period in which he lived, for the world was then but just awakening from the dull sleep of the Middle Ages. The discovery of printing heralded the new birth of the republic of letters, and maritime enterprise received a vigorous impulse. The shores of the Mediterranean, thoroughly explored and developed, had endowed the Italian states with extraordinary wealth, and built up a very respectable mercantile marine. The Portuguese mariners were venturing farther and farther from the peninsula, and traded with many distant ports on the extended coast of Africa.