Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/285

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SIGHTS.

cold. They looked about them and saw on all sides
only the same desolation. Wharves bare, or sustaining
only a few posts with the shattered fragments of a roof.
But a single dwelling was less injured, and might still
offer imperfect shelter and protection. Toward this
they directed their trembling steps. As the pastor de-
scended the crumbling mound, he observed a book pro-
jecting from under one of the iron plates of the overturned
stove. He stood still, and a deep flush of shame passed
over his pale face. His tears fell faster, but through
them he raised a beaming look to the heavens now cov-
ered with clouds. He seized the hand of his wife,
pressed it warmly, and said:
  "See there ! the Lord speaks to us again ! No, no,"
and he clasped his wife and child in his arms, "we will
never despair. He has resolved that we should hear
him. How clearly he has spoken again ! He himself
inspired me to write last evening what was this morn-
ing to strengthen my weak faith."
  And now, on the way to their place of shelter, he
told her what he had written on the preceding night in
his manuscript, entitled "Sights," for this was the book
that he had found.
  "And the heavens were opened again, as at the time
when Jacob the son of Isaac slept in the field. From
the light clouds which vailed the entrance to the abode
of the angels who behold the face of God, the heavenly
ladder descended into the silent night of this cold earth.
The sides of the ladder seemed broad sunbeams half
vailed by morning mists, and the steps were moonlight
and starlight combined. A messenger from God came
down, appearing first like a white vapory cloud that