Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-09-04
The Death Of a Coward

lights as they came up one by one on the
coast. The plunging of the ship still
made his head reel, and he was weak
from want of food. He seemed
altogether apart form the stir and
life of that 400 emigrants on
board created. His whole soul filled
with a dumb and impotent pro-
test against his fate, and the life
before him. Old Capt. Malcolm
had shown little wisdom when he sent
his only son to sea to have some pluck
knocked into him.
In the fathers defense it way be said
that he was utterly unable to realize
the timidity and sensitiveness of the
boy. All his ancestors had been rough
seamen who had faced storm and dan
ger on every sea, and courage and nerve
were hereditary qualities. And now
the last of the Malcolms seemed more
of girl than any of his five sisters.
All the exhortations to manliness, all
the covert reproaches that came from
his father, were SO many darts that
ranked and festered in his soul, but
failed to compel his nature to be other
than it was. The boy was made for
peace. for the quiet and uneventful
life that an office in his native town
could have offered under his mothers
watchful care. Instead, he was here,
an apprentice on the steamship Pride
of Asia, a big cargo boat just off the
slips on the Tyne. and carrying emf
grants to the Cape.
The ships doctor came out of the sa-
loon in the poop to go his evening
round below. With him was his wife,
slight, girlish figure, wrapt in a
heavy cloak. She turned at the ladder
which led to the lower deck, and was
about to go back, when her eyes fell
on the boy. She had noticed him once
or twice before, and his white face and
lonely air reused the womanly SYM
patty in her. She touched him lightly
on the shoulder and said: You are
leaving home, like me-"
The boy started. Aslight color sprang
to his cheeks, and tears to his eyes.
He smiled family, showing gap where
two teeth had been knocked out by a
smaller boy in the only fight he had
ever had at school.
Eyes. ma'am," he replied.
"You must feel lonely" she said;
"but you will soon be back, and then
everyone will think SO much of YOU"
Her voice had something caressing
and inviting about it; and so his conf
dence. overcoming his shyness and re-
serve, broke bounds. He told her every
thing-how he would hate this life, how
| all filed him with fear and disgust, the
cold and darkness, the chaff and horse.
play of his fellow-apprentices, the in.
difference of everyone around him
He told how impossible it was to come
up to his fathers standard, how he fell
he was born coward, and that he
would always be one, shrinking in
stinctively from the danger and excite.
ment that holder natures took pleas
ure in.
She listened sympathetically. Her
hand had patted him once or twice, and
encouraged him to go on. When he
ended, she said: "You must not be toe
hard on yourself. It's not always those
who fear the least that are bravest in
| the end. When the time comes, 1 am
sure you will do your duty"
The boy heard her listlessly. He
had little heart to respond to any ap.
peal to his manliness. There seemed
no time when he would not shrink
from hardship or danger. He almost
felt as If his confidence had been mis-.
placed, and that she had understood
nothing after all.
She saw the change, and her inter.
est in him somewhat waned Courage
to woman is the primary quality in
the other sex. and nothing will com.
pensate for the lack of it. She babe
him good night and turned away
back to the poop.
In few minutes the second mate
passed along the deck and told the
boy to go below. Then all was quiet
A few hours later the Pride Of Asia
was steaming at ''slow," with her
whistle going every few minutes. The
Channel fog grit the ship like a
shroud. The captain walked the
| Drldge uneaslly. NO tempest or rock.
bound shore gives the anxiety that a
fog on this waterway of the nations
does. Danger is imminent every.
where, and the most careful seaman.
ship is no guarantee of safety. So it
was now. A hoarse shout came from
the man on the lookout. The captain
| sprang to the telegraph, and as Full
| speed astern" rang out large sail.
ing ship took form in the fog, and in
a few seconds crashed into the steam.
er in front of the bridge.
The Pride of Asia shook from stem
to stern, heeled over to starboard,
and then began to forge ahead, while
the other went pounding along her
side, wrenching the port boats from
her davits and staving them in with
her bowsprit. Then she passed away
as ghost in the fog.
The Pride of Asia had met her
death wound. At once all was noise
and confusion. The emigrants came
pouring up on deck, screaming and
| ch Al