The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-02
Printed b. Special Arrangement ,csaA the Aathor.
NOT BY ACCIDENT.
BY E. w. N.
copyrighted 1885, by the Author-An Rights
Reserved Z
A s Y.

Mr.. Thomson gained first prize Of $500 from
Youths Companion for best story of adventure. and
Frank Il: Stockton gained first prize for humorous
story. The prize story was published in Companion,
April 49,
Death is so much the comrade Of life that q
man of ordinary fortitude does not, after the
first shock, blench and shudder much to know
that he has been touched by an incurable and
rapid disease. Which of us has not known some
friend, some consumptiye. perhaps, who has
accepted the announcement of an early doom
without a sign of horror, and gone on, a little
more serious perhaps, but quietly any cheerfully
to the end2
George Beckett, of Bastonvale, when he left
the Office of DR.. Philpotts, who, as examiner for
an insurance company, had refused a risk Oh his
life, gave scarcely a thoughtto the verdict as it
affected him personally. His dominant thought
was that his wife and children would soon be
left destitute. The old doctor had indicated
that Becketts heart was seriously affected. a di-
agnosis that George might have questioned had
he understood how deaf and stupid Philpotts
was, and how puzzled by his attempt at auscula-
ton. He did not question it in the least for two
r-easons-because he believed in Philpotts, and
because sinking sensations about the heart had
ACully GChb A1Rl u t1C
At this time he, who had till recently lived
much in the open air and almost as an athlete,
was working very hard in his office, smoking
ceaselessly, exercising little and suffering ter
ribly from loneliness and regret. His wife and
five children were a days journey away, living
on charity, as he told himself, with his brother
in law, John Kennedy, a wellto-do country
storekeeper, who had insisted that they should
all come to his big house by the big river for a
long visit, and thus give Beckett a clear field to
slave and save, that he might make a home for
them again. Till recently they had lived in
luxury, and might have lived so to the end of the
chapter had not Beckett, driven by the business
mans anxiety to place his loved ones entirely
beyon9 the reach of poverty, gone outside his
field to make such a mess of speculation that his
horses, house, furniture, even his wife's wedding
presents and chlldren's toys. had all to be sold
by the sheriff.
After the wreck he had gone to work doggedly
to retrieve his fortunes. But for the hope to
succeed he felt that he should 60 mad, and now,
as he left the doctor, he was desperate with the
conviction that no time was left for him. He
thought of his wife and children as destitute
now, and, because of the early death threatening
him. to be destitute always. He imagined them
as failing to gain shelter, clothing, mere food;
he had visions of Kate and the babies cold on
bitter days, budding together for warmth, hag-
gard and bollow-eyed with want, clutching in
dreams for crusts beyond their reach by day.
The miserable man, heart-wrungsby the dreadful
pictures of his Imagination, wandered that night
back and forth about the fields near Bastonvale
till near day.
Then, after some hours of deep, exhausted
sleep, he went to bis Office cool, sane and hope
full, determined that he would neglect 10 duty
but toll hard to increase the small sum he was
accommodating.
Absorbed in labor day after day, no change in
his physical condition occurring, Beckett forgot
the doctors verdict for longer and longer spaces
of time. Sometimes, too, hope returned and
suggested that even Philpotts, whose solemnity
was much regarded as wisdom in Bastonvale,
might have been mistaken. This view com-
mended itself to him more and more, till one
morning, while walking on the railway track for
exercise-his habit in that fall season of muddy
country roadside suddenly became aware of a
sinking sensation at heart more intense than he
had known before. Clutching and gasping for
air, he StdSBcFcu v IN lOW uduh VI tlc CultluS,
and there had some moments of agony and cold
sweat, and fear that the hand of the dread angel
was on him even Their. Soon the pain passed,
but then went, too, the last vestige of hope or
room to build hope on. Thereafter, except when
absorbed in his work, he had always those
appalling visions of his loved ones in misery be-
fore him..
A week, a fortnight elapsed, and still he had
not broken the doom to Kate. Between his
longing for her sympathy and his wish to spare
her was a terrible struggle. 1t terminated with
an occurrence that gave his thoughts a new
direction and made him thankful that he had
kept his wife in the dark.
Say, mister, are you insured against acct
dentsF' said the engine-driver, who had laid
over one morning.
EFT, taken by surprise.
"Well, / allowed you'd ought to be, if you're
going to keep walking the track. was most
over you this morning! Why in thunder didn't
you get off soonerl"
'Soon enough was sufficient, answered George,
walking away. He acknowledged to himself
that his delay had been foolish-the locomotive
had seemed to whistle almost over his head be-
fore he stepped aside.
'Of course, / was safe" he soliloquized, 'but,
after all, ones foot might slip. Jones is quite
right-an accident insurance in that case would
certainly have come in we'll"
Then he stopped short. his face suddenly paled,
: his teeth shut hard together, his hands drawn
up and clslched.
An accident policy!
There was one in his desk for SOS, 600. To
secure that money to Kate and the children!
But howl
'If the train had gone over me this morning
they would have been saved from destitution!"
he muttered. And by an accident For l
meant to get of. But suppose / had not meant
TO get off Suicidcs Accident insurance is not