St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-04-26
troubles of his people" -[Cosmopoli-
HERoIsM UNTO DEATH.
RsDecca Harding Davis n oongrsgatior.ali

Rebecca Harding Davis IN Congregationalist.
Among the reports of havoc and suf-
fering caused by the great storm, our
! little incident which occurred on the
train, rushing through the binding
blizzard, ran into a derailed car near
Huntington. The engine was crushed
as if it had been glass, and the engi-
neer, Robert Gardner, was wedged i'm
movably between the tender and boil
er, the brass cocks of the latter being
deeply bedded in the flesh of his thigh.
His first words, when discovered, were,
'Ts Jim 1.-THE fireman. safe Z Are any
of my passengers killed ~
| For nearly three hours he remained
thus, held motionless, his leg slowly
| first strength of manhood but during
these three hours of torture he did not
utter single cry or grOan. Once he
said, "Why don't they hurry up and
pull back the tender My leg is burn
ing and L can't stand it much longer"
Somebody offered him liquor to stimu-
late him, but he pushed it back, say
ing, 81 never touch that"
The passengers stood in the darkness
and furious storm, helplessly watching
him burn to death, until another en-
CINE arrived and dragged away the ten
der. They carried him to one of the
cars, but he was dead before he reach
ed it.
We repeat this story to our readers
in order to call their attention to the
fact that such heroism unto death in
the discharge of plain, everyday duties
for which men receive wages, is grow
ing more common among us with every
year. 1t is so common that we scarce
ly notice it.
knights in the old times fought
bravely to win renOwn, to gain a wOm-
ans love or a neighbours land, for a
good cause or for a bad one. Their
object was glory, and the world has
given it to them literally. Even now
we think of the men of the chivalric
day as of a race more heroic and lOftier
in aim than the drudging, dOllar-earn-
ing American.
Yet there is not a grimy engineer
who puts his hand on the lever of an
engine, that does not feel that his duty
includes the risking of his own life, If
needs be, for his passengers; and not
once in a thousand times when the
emergency comes does he shirk that
duty. How many doctors, nurses or
clergymen, shrink from the perils of a
great epidemic2 1t is a significant fact
that, since the organization in 1871 of
the Life Saving Service that guards
our entire coasts, there have been but
two instances in which man refused
to risk his own life to save a ship
wrecked crew.
There is no elan, no passion, no fer
vid clutch at glory in this kind of cour-
age, which is becoming a marked fea-
ture of American character. 1t is the
quiet, calm, obstinate performance of
duty = however commonplace = once
undertaken, in the teeth of death itself
1t is kind of courage, too, which
can be taught. You cannot give a
child, at will, the vivid, enthusiastic
temperament which will make him a
leader on an improbable battlefield.
But you can inoculate him from his
cradle with that loyal, instant obedi-
ence to conscience, that habit of self
denial, which will make him hold to
his daily, commonplace duty as faith
fully as did Christian to his roll while
the fiends clutched at it.
The engineer who, while burning to
death, stuck fast to his resolve to
touch no liquor, and who tried, even
then, to care for his passengers, had
never, we may be sure, been made a
selfish, frivolous child by a silly moth