The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-29
Copyright 1902
by tho Author.l

Mg blowing, aad:
BReavy enough to make the vessel so
|fvely that the majority of the passen-
@Sers were below in their berths.
p Three men had placed their deck
|Sahairs together in q snug niche be-
|$Eween two of the deck houses, and had
them so that they could not
slfde down to leeward when the ship
Elolled. They were all smoking pipes,
End their sun-burnt. bearded faces, and
HE certain carelessness in their attitudes.
Eatamped them as colonists on their way
#home. They were talking of tragedy
EAhat had happened but an hour before.
BA One of the second-class passengers,
Ish woman, finding the air in the cabin,
|aawhere most Of her fellow passengers
Sverc confined by sickness, almost I'M
Ffbearable, had come up on deck with
#Sher child, who was about year old.
s5 She had been married in England
8stwo years before, and had come out
fIawith her husband, Il young farmer, to
fSettlc in Natal. The husband was in
E,felligent and energetic, and intended
Iss$o grow semi tropical produce. He was
E4ilready making progress when he was
Efarried off by fever The young widow
|slhad disposed of the farm on favorable
|Eaerms, and was returning with her
Mchild to her people in England.
|A She had but just reached the top of
|the companion, and had stepped out on
|'nhe deck, when the ship gave heavy
|aroll and she slipped down to the lee
|Abulwarlf.
|A How it happened was not known,
|abut probably she loosened her hold of
|tthe baby, in the instructive effort TO
GRASP the bulwnrl1 rail. At any rate,
Hit slipped from her arms and fell over
aboard. With wild scream she sprang
on the bulwarks and plunged in after
h Dit. The attention of the officer on the
|Sbridge was called by the scream, and
Has he turned round he saw her leap;
at the same moment the quartcrmaster
aat the wheel shouted: "a woman
overboardl'' The engines were instant
|aly stopped and boat lowered. It had
Hrowed about for half an hour in the
4 heavy sea without catching glimpse
Eof the woman or the child, and then
awas hoisted up again by the steamer,
n that had rounded to and followed it.
III The search had been hopeless from
i the first, for even q good swimmer
could hardly have supported himself
H for ten minutes in the broken sea. The
Eonly possible hope was that the woman
might have grasped the life buoy That
had ut once been dropped from the
N ships stern.
III The boat was lucky enough to find
b this, but when it was seen to be un-
tenanted the last glimmcr of hope was
extinguished, and the officer in com
mand of the boat headed her for the
N steamer.
ut was n mad action, poor thingr'
one of the smokers said. "Of course
it was the wild impulse of the moment.
An instant's reflection would have
shown her that she was only throwing
Il away her own life without the slight
Il est chance of saving that of her child"
N II expect she would have done the
same even if she had known it." an
Il other said. 'Shc had lost her hus-
y band, and without her child life would
be nothing TO her, especially as she
II would have always blamed herself for
h its loss. Perhaps it was the best thing.
4 after all, for her."
There is hardly any limit to what
women will do for their children" the
4 third man put in. PPM not married
mau, and SO cannot speak from expert
ence; but as far as can see the affec-
ton Of mothers for their young chill
dren is thing beyond most mems I'M
derstanding. Men may be fond of lit
tie children in n way-till they begin
to be old enough to return the feeling
and become amusing and lovable-but
they don't care for them in anything
like the same degree that women dos
II have noticed that over and over
again; but women will do quite as brave
things as men for anyone they love,
whether husband or child" John Beau
mont, the first speaker, agreed. There
was an instance at Pretoria. l was
there, you know, through the siege by
the Dutchmen, and very hot time we
had of it for a bit. The fellows kept up
a heavy fire on the Enclosure we had
roughly fortified, which surrounded a
number of houses. BY some blunder
or other we had stores and provisions
enough, but there was horrible want
of water. What wells there were in
the place failed, and the only way to
get water was to fetch it from one out
side the Enclosure. The Dutch occu-
pied strong building that commanded
this well. and they were such good
shots that it was certain death to 70
out to it in daylight, and even at night
it was very risky work, for they kept
up heavy muskctry fire in that direc-
tion.
eve had made one or two attempts
to capture the house, but it was SO
strongly garrisoned that we were I'M
able to do so. We had been for some
time on short rations of water. 1t was
desperately hot, and as the time went
on we suffered q good deal Every