The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-09-17
BENEFICIARIES
OF CHANCE : :
A Second Honeymoon to a Couple
Separated by the Great
Galveston Storm.


q GalVeSbOn
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Torn from each others terrified clasp
by the seething waters of the Galveston
flood at midnight; mourning one another
month after month as dead; meeting sud
denly face to face in the sunlight on the
street of a New Mexico town, their sor-
row changed to joy Unreasonable in that
one amazed glance of mutual recognition
such is the romance that marks the re-
union of Frank H Parrish and his pretty
young wife.
The story of that tragic midnight part
ing and its sequel, the happy monday
meeting, is a strange story of chance
a story that cannot but revive hope in
any despairing breast, for it proves that
although there may be only one chance in
many millions of attaining the hearts
DESIRE it is worth while to wait and
watch for 1t.
Frank Parrish and his VIE, swept
asunder in the tempest's roar and the
darkness of night, without K clcw to
follow in finding each other whoa the
morning dawned and consciou Hrss re-
gave up all llOuEAl VI lllNNti--S
again in this world. There was no ap-
parent reason for supposing that either
had survived the horrors of that fatcful
night.
And yet there was chance-dim, I'M
certain, well nigh improbable, but never
theless chance-that neither had gone
down into the tombless graveyard of the
sea.
D. Ia s.IA IL md 10
them that chance when weighed against
reason and considered along the line of
ordinary occurrences that the heartbrok-
en- husband and wife cast it aside as an
impossibility, the hungering thought of
which merely Knocked their despair and
made their loneliness the sadder.
They had not then learned how strange,
how elusive, how kind a thing sometimes
is chance.
To chance they owe the reunion of their
parted lives. Chance, slenderest of all
threads though it be, has linked the bro
ken chain that bound them. 1t has brought
about their second honeymoon, for Frank
Parrish and his wife are just now as
supremacy happy a pair of welded lovers
as could be found the world over.
When the tide rushed into Galveston
ana houses were SPIN III TIC LllSlNy
grasp of the storm; when caught in the
teeth of the tempest and stunned by the
dashing waves, men, women and children
were engulfed and lost forever to the
sight or cast ashore, like human drift
wood, the breath of life beaten out Of
their bruised, broken bodies; when the
world itself seemed to come to an end in
chaos most horrible, these two, shaken
IL, time fpp
prayer or farewell word, were hurled with
their house into the angry flood. Clinging
to each other in the darkness, they were
flung into the very vortex of the inrush-
ing sea. The last instant of consciousness
was fraught with anguish keener than
any hurt to their bodies, for each felt the
other slipping, slipping weakly away into
the black, desoate waste of waters. With
their cries choked in their threats, with
even the wish to die together denied
them, the man and the woman lost each
other in the fury of the flood.
The catastrophe occurred in September
of last year, ten months ago.
The other day, by the one chance that
these two sorrowing souls had never
dared to hope for, they found each other
alive and well in the town of Roswell,
| n. NJ.
With all its millions of inhabitants this
old world is "a small place." after all,
when two of the atoms that crawl over its
surface, suddenly thrust apart in the
night are as suddenly brought together
amid surroundings entirely different and
in the full light of day.
1t was like awakening from shudder-
some nightmare to a sweet, sunny reality.
When the food came, Mrs. Parrish was
caught and pinioned by the swirling wa
tiers in some wreckage that drifted back
within a block of the spot where their
house had stood. Here she was finally
rescued, badly bruised and hurt but
without broken bones.
Her husband was carried the breadth
of the bay and far inland, where he was
found by a kind hearted stranger, a farm
er, who at first thought him quite dead.
But the nearly drowned man partially re
covered consciousness, murmured the
name of his wife and sank into a semi
comatose state and wavered between life
and death for six weeks thereafter.
Meanwhile he was tenderly cared for
in the home of the farmer upon whose
hospitality and humanity the sea had
thrust him unlimited.
Two months passed before the sick man
was able to return to the scene of his
former happiness. Saddened and DESC
late he wandered over the ground whose
landmark had been swept away by the
anger of the elements, ground once so ia
miliar, now so strangely altered. He lin
gered by the ruins of his dwelling as by a
new made grave. Everywhere he asked
the same question and everywhere re-
ceved the same discouraging answer.
No one had seen his wife since the night
of the flood.
His heart grew heavy with despair He
babe goodby to the wreck of his fortunes
and the resting place of his broken hopes
Then he turned his face toward new
field, to begin life over again, alone
There could be no solace for his grief
but in labor might be obtained some
measure of forgetfulness.
Frank Parrish went to the home of his
brother Charles Parrish, in the noun
tains of Lincoln county, n. Nj. Slowly
came back to him his strength anc
health, but the joy of life was no Longer
his To work for works sake was no
the same task that it had been wher
work meant the care of the little woman
who to him was the dearest and lovelles
in all the world, the building of hom'
together, the delight of daily companion
ship and sympathy, the constant presence
of that influence which has power tt
make devils or heroes of men-the pas
sionate influence of love.
1t was not satisfactory at its best
working merely for works sake, bu
Frank Parrish did what any man will
the right sort of stuff in him would hay'
done-he tried with all his might to max
something worth while of himself in hi
new environment.
To inspire him he had his memories
and they were sweet.
All this while Mrs. Parrish was wear
ing the somber weeds of widowhood i
Murfreesboro, Tenn. She had gone Their
to make her home with a distant relativ
| of whom she had never happened I
: speak to her husband. or her husband
| brother she knew nothing more than tn
} fact of his existence somewhere in Amer
lea.
: After the Galveston disaster she had re
NAMED in the vicinity until convince
: that her husband had persisted Then sh
l made her way to Tennessee.
3 As the weeks went by she regained he
health. for youth is buoyant and recupel