The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-31

| thing seemed to beat IL down 10 the leVe
of the water, and there was the sterr
Of the bark receding before my eyes. II
another moment she would be out OF
| sight. I exerted all my strength and
| beloved for help. Possibly there were
| five minutes of it, and then the bark
disappeared, and was alone in the mid
| die Of the Atlantic. A man in this situa-
| ton calculates his chances very sum
| marty. There was one in a hundred
that the bark would send boat to hunt
me up. Something told me that the acct
| dent had been prearranged. 1 was to die
! there by inches. buffeted TO the last. In
such crises man begins to pray very
| spontaneously. Our common life hides
from US possibilities that come flashing
upon us in moments OF peril. 1t is only
when man is reduced TO a helpless atom
| in the waste of creation that he tries
| 10 lay hold of the Infinite. I will not
| tire you with my psychologist expert
ences. One sometimes lives for hours at
the top of his emotions. I tried to adjust
myself to an inevitable and cruel death.
knowing that even during my last breath
would be struck in the face by the pitt
| less ocean. 1 will merely remark, gen.
tlemen, that to man in the middle OF
the Atlantic, lifted every half minute so
that he can get good view OF the ap-
palling waste of waters, a winter In the
Indian countryt must assume the color Of
an Arcadian dream.
Palfrey nodded assent
Il don't know exactly how long I was
IN the water. 1 know. however, that 1
fought against despair with mental
frenzy, and just as I was becoming in
capacitated by the whirl of my own
brain and the ceaseless endeavor to keep
afioat, 1 heard a call.
1T was Dick Pearce in the yawl. and
he pulled me in, half dead. He told me
that the bark had gone on. The cap
tain refused to stop. We were twenty
-FOUR hours afoat, and were then picked
up by one of the old Black Bail Line Of
packets, and came safely 10 New York.
Il lost track OF Pearce and there was
no probability that We would ever come
together on the ocean of life again. But
now, as I think back, it all came near
TO being the regulation Christmas story.
Years slipped away. 1t was, I think. in
", when L was coroner, and my profess
slonaI shingle was still up on the old
rooms in Bond street. The bows of the
Phoenix club in the iTwenty-first ward
were going to have a Christmas reveI.
and on Christmas eve young Dick
Busted came down to my office 10 fetch
me. We had started iout together to
walk to the Fourth avenue cars, when a
young girl with a shawl over her head
ran after US. She caught hold of nv
coat eagerly. Would I come at once?
Her father was dead.
Something in her face touched me-
My child 1 said, what can 1 do if your
father is dead? I could feel the vibra-
ton Of her eagerness, as she replied in
a paroxysmal appeal: oh, please come,
it's only across to Chystie street
Dick said I, that will only take ME
a few minutes and it's Christmas eve
I'll feel better at the club if I attend to
this. You go on and I'll join you pres
entity He was quite indignant, but I
had my own way. The girl walked by
my side over to a tenement house on
the corner of Chrystie and Houston
streets. I trid to talk with her on the
way, but her eagerness to get back in
terferred with her speech, which usually
ended in conclusive sobs. By the time
We were landed in a room on the fourth
floor, where the whole family were hud-
died in incoherent grief. I had recovered
some Of my official dignity. Wei, mad
am said to the obvious mother of the
circle, here I am. What do lyou expect
me to do? Don't you know better than
to send for doctor after death has TAX
en- place.
God have mercy on u.s. she replied
with sharp despair, you can do nothing.
But the girl would have it. Then they
all fell to crying afresh. The pitiable
situation was apparent at a glance.
Here was a Woodworking man who,
while preparing for Christmas with his
family had been suddenly cut off. so sud
denly, in fact, that the family could not
get it squarely into their heads that he
was really dead. 1 took it all in, calcu-
lating that ten-dollar bill would let me
out easily, Jand flF those stockings that
were hanging under the mantel, when |
the girl beckoned me to follow her into |
another room. It was pretty dark in !
there but she pulled the curtains up and |
there, lying on the bed. as you have al |
ready suspected, was Dick Pearce. |
was so taken aback that I must have |
acted very strangely. Who told you to |
come for meR' Iasked the girl. and she |
slipped away from me as II something |
had frightened her. don't know she |
said. what is it?' and It gave me a craw- /
~ feeling.
Go and get me lamp quick-do you 4
hear, and keep that door shut
Yes she said wonderingly. as she 1
slipped out
II went to the window a moment and 4
looked out. I could hear the horns on 1
the street. Christmas was close up with /
its merry clamor. They were waiting /
for me atNhe club. This was a most an
noying detention at such a time, and /
might be wasting labor on a corpse.
Then I looked al the white face IN the /
dim light It seemed TO be coming 10
me as If I had been forsaken even by
spume and the darkness with a rigid,
purpose, when It looked 70
me as II I had been fortaken even BY
God. I put my head down close 10 his
ear and I said: Dick, old fellow. I don't
know II you can hear me or not. but
stay with you 70 the end. I've got the
yawl this time. and so help ne Heaven.
III pun you out IL I can, 50 brace up"
Here the doctor stopped and filed a
pipe and let Pslfrey light It Tor him with
= coal picked up with the tonEs. Gen
.lemen," he said presently, 7 suppose
sou know BY this time how rad a story
teller I am. because you can both Of you
iulsh il yourselves"