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I am standing upon that foreshore....

Tracking down the origins of a quote

I am standing upon that foreshore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails in the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "There! She's gone!" "Gone where?" "Gone from my sight, that's all." She is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at that moment when someone at my side says, "There! She's gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

The analogy above, often used at funeral services, is often attributed to Hugo's novel, "Toilers of the Sea." However, this appears to be incorrect. At least, I was unable to find the source upon reading Hugo's novel, and I have never seen a French version of this quote suggesting the original was in English.

There are seven other attributions I have found:

-- John Newmark, Nov, 2003
--updated May, 2004 (with Bishop Brent info)
--updated Feb, 2006 (with Project Gutenberg info on Henry Van Dyke)
--updated July, 2006 (with James Dalton Morrison info, and updated Bishop Brent info)
--updated December, 2008 (with Record of Christian Work info)