Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-09-28
The Death Of a Coward

THE Boy leant wearily against the
bulwark rails, watching the
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 900 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 1t 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,
a 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
pathy in her. She touched him lightly
on the shoulder and said: "You are
leaving home, like me-"
The boy started. A slight 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.
"Yes, 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 ii was to come
up to his fathers standard, how he felt
he was born coward, and that he
would always be one, shrinking in
stinctively from the danger and excite.
ment that bolder 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. il is not always those
who fear the least that are bravest in
the end. When the time comes, l am
sure you will do your duty"
The boy heard her lstlessly. 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 badt
him good night and turned away
back to the poop.
In a few minutes the second mate
passed along the deck and told the
boy to 60 below. Then all was quiet
A few hours later the Pride of Asit
was steaming at "slow," with hel
whistle going every few minutes. Tn,
Channel fog grit the ship like /,
shroud. The captain walked tn,
bridge uneasily. No tempest or rock
bound shore gives the anxiety that {
fog on this waterway of the nation,
does. Danger is imminent every
where, and the most careful seaman
ship is no guarantee of safety. So i
WAS now. A hoarse shout came from
the man on the lookout. The captain
snrang to the telegraph, and as "Ful
sneed astern" rang out large sail
ing ship took form in the fog, and il
a few seconds crashed into the steam
er in front of the bridge.
The Pride of Asia shook from sten
+o stern, heeled over to starboard
and then began to forge ahead, Will
the other went pounding along he
side. wrenching the port boats from
ter dayits and staving them ia wit