The Republican journal., 1872-10-03

say. which but three days before had cast
off lror.. the Calcutta tug, was caught in
a cyclone On the :'0th she lay wreck at
the mercy OF the waves Then the pilot
Paul ElSon. gathered togethpra few v0lun-
teers and constructed and rugged raft
Thirteen of the crew got on her; the rest,
as is usual on such occasionSand there
terror, prayi1g, c"S>aZ yelling. drink *
ing Elson was the l2 ito leave the ship,
aroidcnt - cap Acut the h haw v
took upon higflf the command, We
Shall see hnwFhe fulfilled IFS responsible
tiles. Al that day and all that hight. we
are told, the seas broke heavily over the
raft eve were up to our nccks in water"
says the man who rectcd the story. ''for
she iloated low" All the night. never
thelesS, ElSon, who appears to have been
4 powerful swimmer, swan round and
round Ike raft. lashng her together and
making her stronger rs best he could
Now and again, would the furious waves
wash over the raft and ever and anon Il
victim went away into space and eternity
ElsOn, whose heart and strength both ap-
pear to have been giant-lke, would be off
the raft with Il dash, and would strike
ont, and ut times bring Il poor creature
back. Away went man, and Paul Elson
would follow. But 1T last it became neccs-
sary to construct smaller raft ,ssa,t hat
the weight might be divided to relieve
the other. This Paul ElspH< built almost
ngle-handca The laSeer raft floatod
away; the piA and Xfee other men took
TO the smallef. \Apfh here we may simply
record The fact Mt this Separated Elson
from his ScrwantA native boy, whom we
are assured EkonNended with the care
OF mother, and never once lost sight Of
in the midst Of all his fearful toll and
anxiety. ''lie kept near him; he tended
him as 4 mother would hsrfhild; he gave
him our last srpA OF N 6kable water. :"
Tho RothesaRa1 sun Hpn the Both Of
July and This Athc 2'AfAngust. To
follow out thd'acG&unt given in the Lon
don Daily Telegraph: "Thc raft was drift
inc under a raging tropical sun For three
days there Fad been no food 10 water;
worse than this, the rrail xSH,port itself
began 10 break>ur, and, swimming about
in heavy suri, Paul Elsdh became much
exhausted. They end coursc could not
be far of. FRS 9F of the men was
washed away, an fthen another, until
EIson himself an be scotchman who
tells the story .TeN the sole surviv-
ors. "Pilot, 81 Id |. kso the narrative
runs-"we N ST fight through !" .'Oh,
Fra ,nnmo hc' / L. cant hold ont
broke Upon us, and knocked him off.
found it impossible to hang on, and was
forced 70 let him 60" And 50 the story
ends The body OF Pilot Elson, worn out
by his incessant labors, floats away into
the great deep, there to lie till the sea
shall give up its dead"
II is almost impossible to picture to
ones self nature grander than this
mans. For hour after hour he had Ia
bored and toilcd, and-we had almost
written wasted, bnt such word would
i'll hclit the offering which Paul Elson
made in this way to his Maker-used all
his strength and efforts to succor those
whom he had under his charge. A hun
dred times he forgot himself, and, as the
Journal which we have quoted from above
remarks, che broke his great heart in an
obstinate effort to save, not himself, but
the others" And when going up-when
the strength was all but gone, and the
stout spirit had been crushed Paul Elson
again bethought him of duty. 81 told
him." says Fraser, ''that if he couldn't
hold on would lash him. He then made
some eXclan alton about his poor wife,
and said, 81 will try to stand it." But the
roaring ocean claimed him, and Paul
Elson's body went down into the deep and
his soul to his God; his memory to live
cvcrmore noble example Of duty well
and studiously performed, and as a bright
star in this world of ours, that shows q
purer light to guide others in the path,
and to make us think of the wealth of
courage and endurance that at times lie
dormant in poor humanity.