The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-04-24


! eyes full of happy tears, forget ing to end
her sentence.
Among the passengers was 4 troop OF
soubrettes of the lowest class-loud talk
ing, giggling, perIumcd women, whose
soiled, ragged clothes were pieccd ont
with bits of tawdry lace and ribbons. 1t
was amusing to watch the decent little
| Scotch woman when they came near on
! deck; even her neat starchcd gown shui-
/ dcred as they passed and i'll her face WAS
| the fierce antagonism of generations Of
her godly ancestors 10 the devil and all
his works.
One day two of these women became
violently i'll with an cruptivc disease
The doctor said aloud, measles" but
whispered to the captain, "smallpox of
the most malignant kind" There was
on this ship-as there may be OH ali
ocean-going steamers, for aught know
stateroom deep in the hold of the
vessel, Il hospital cell for the use OF quar-
antincd patients, shut off from the world
by siX-inch oak door, which, when it
was once closed, was not opened uatil
the voyage was over. To this cell the
patients were hurried. The captain
summoned the three stewardesses and
told them the truth about the women.
cat all cost. he said, the matter must
be kept secret from the crew and passcn-
gers, or we shall have Il panic. One of
you must take charge of them. Your
meals and the medicine will be passed TO
you through a trap in the door. You
cannot leave the cell whether your
patients live or die until we reach the
other side. Which of you will go?"
The two older women began to cry an;!
protest loudly. Jessy stood silent, star
ing into the captains face.
Il know. " he cried. They're hardly
worth it But we cant let them die like
dogs. One of you must GO
at must be me- then" she said. II
have no children depending on me-
These others have. There's my mother
| thought-But there's others to care for
her. No. its for HE to go"
The captain said afterwards that he
saw that she was sure that she would
never leave the cell alive. 81 thought it,
too, he said. She WAS weakly body
at best and every drop of her blood rose
against the women and the work
She went to her cabin to make ready
and one Of the other women presently
found her there writing
Them poor wretchcs are calling for
you, she said.
Let them call said Jessy, hcrccly |
"l'll write to my mother, first" Rut
Jessy was not to be a martyr after all |.
When the ship was cleared OF her pas
sengers at Liverpool the oak door opened |
and she came out with her red. SCARED !
patients. She was thin and gray like a
ghost. But she laughed merrily, and was
very kind and tender to the poor, friend |
less women.
When | saw her Il year or two later, !
she was in the snug little cottage an1 tie
dun COW was in the paddock and her old /
mother sat knitting by the kitchen fire.
These are but common homely stories
you think? Why, that is the comfort,
the triumph in them-that such things
are now common among us. Every dar
we read of physicians, hremcn, engineers
or nurses, giving up ambition, health ana
life itself to help others. TODAY it is Il
negro workman who stands back 10 lct
women ali pass out of the burning build
ing until it is too late for him to follow
them yesterday it was an English sur
geon, mortally wounded, who, hearing
the shrieks of a dying soldier whose leg
had been torn off, dragged himself closer,
gave him hypodcrmic injection of NOR
phine and in a moment lay dead beside
him.
Now these deeds are done without the
of great cause or the rage of
battle or the hope ofapplausc. Men who
do them are often illiterate and ignorant
The hope of fame never could be an III
fluence in their lives
But we may be sure that the man who
in the imminent moment of death sees
the right thing to do and does it, has in
life habitually done the right thing. The
man who nobly dies has nobly lived
The modern American has his vices,
but he is apt to have in him a lodged
loyalty to his duty, whether that duty be
to run an engine or to nurse a case Of
liphtheria. He has, too. hearty wish
to help his neighbor, which comes to him
rom Christ, though he may not knowit,
and may call himself an agnostic or \
there is the human stuff out of
which modern heroes are made.
Let us be glad that there is SO much of
t and that SO many more folk than we
Know are living on the uplands.-Thc
Interior.