“They called it rainy yesterday, But I know better, anyway; ’Twas only Portsmouth people crying To see the good ship’s colors flying! “But Captain B. said, ‘Hang the sorrow! The sun is bound to shine to-morrow.’ And when he speaks it’s no use talking-- So the clouds and the blues, they took to walking. “And so to-day the sun shines bright, And Salem sends her heart’s delight; And the good ship flies, and the wind blows free, As she leaps to her lover’s arms--the sea! “They have crowded her deck with the witty and wise, The saltest wisdom and merriest eyes; And manned her yards with a gallant crew That it tickles her staunch old ribs to view. “They say she’s bound to sail so fast That a man on deck can’t catch the mast! And a porpoise trying to keep ahead, Will get run over and killed stone dead. “Then here’s a health to the hands that wrought her, And three times three to the mind that thought her For thought’s the impulse, work’s the way That brings all Salem here to-day. “Clear the track, the ship is starting! Clear the track, the ship is starting! Clear the track, the ship is starting! And Portsmouth hearts are sad at parting.” Repeated rounds of applause greeted this effusion, and the company went on deck where music called the dancers to their feet. The wind had died out, and as the sun began to set in the west, the _Witch of the Wave_ anchored in Salem harbor. The day’s pleasure was brought to a close by a portion of the company singing these lines of Whittier’s that had been set to music for the occasion: “God bless her wheresoe’er the breeze Her snowy wings shall fan, Beside the frozen Hebrides Or sultry Hindostan! “Where’er, in mart or on the main, With peaceful flag unfurled, She helps to wind the silken chain Of commerce round the world. “Her pathway on the open main May blessings follow free, And glad hearts welcome back again Her white sails from the sea!” The guests were landed in boats at Phillips’s wharf, in time to reach their homes by the early evening trains, and on the following day the _R. B. Forbes_ towed the _Witch of the Wave_ to Boston, where she loaded in Glidden & Williams’s Line for San Francisco, under the command of Captain J. Hardy Millett. CHAPTER XI CALIFORNIA CLIPPER PASSAGES OF 1851