Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-09-16
DEATH IN THE CAMP.
Short story by Rudyard Klplins, Ending
With a Moral.

With a Moral.
Two awful cata strophies have occurred.
! one Englshman in London is dead. and
| have scandalized about % OF his near
est and dearest friends
He WIS "A man nearly 20 years Old
| engaged in the business Of an architect,
and immensely respected That was all
l knew about him till he began to cir
culate among his friends in these parts
| trying to cheer them up and make them
! forget the fog.
"Hush! said a man and his wife
| Don't you know he died yesterday OF a
sudden attack OF pneumonia. Isn't It
shocldnR?'
Yes. said I, vaguely "Awhy shock
ing. Has he left his wife provided for?"
"Oh, he's very well of indeed, and his
| wife is quite old But just think-it was
| only in the next street it happened"
Then ! saw that their grief was not
FOR Strangeways, deceased but for them
selves
How old was he?" | said
/ Nearly 20, or maybe a little over"
! About time for man to nationally
/ expect such a thing as death" I thought
| and went away to another house. where
a young married couple lived
isn't II perfectly chastity" said the
| wife Mr.. Strangeways died last night"
so I heard" said l. We'll, he had
/ lived his life"
Yes but 1t was such a shockingly
/ short illness. Why. only three weeks ago
| he was walking about the street" And
| she looked nervously at her husband, as
! though she expected him to give up the
| ghost at any minute.
Then | gathered with the knowledge
| Of the length of his sickness. that her
! grief was not for the late Mr.. Strange
ways, and went away thinking over
men and women had known who would
| have given a thousand years in purga-
! tory for even week wherein to arrange
their affairs. and who were anything but
we'll of.
| passed on to a third house fun Of
| children. and the shadow Of death hung
over their heads for father and mother
were talking Of Mr.. Strangeways' END"
| Most shocking" said they. 1T seems
that his wife was in the next room when
he was dying. and his only son called
| her so she Just had time to take him
| in her arms before he died He was un-
| conscious at the last Wasn't II awful -
When / went away from that home I
thought Of men and women without a
week wherein to arrange their affairs
and without money, who were anything
/ but unconscious at the last, and who
would have given thousand years in
purgatory for one glimpse at their
mothers. their wives or their husbands
I reflected how these people died tended
!
In the least ashamed to say that |
laughed over Mr.. Strangeways death as
| entered the house OF a brother in his
craft.
Heard Of Strangeways' DEATH" says
he Most hideous thing. Why. ne had
only few days before got news OF his
designs being accepted BY the Bureoyne
cathedral. II he had lived he would have
been working out the details now-with
me And | saw that this mans fear
also was not on account OF Mr.. Strange
ways. And | thought OF men and women
who died in the midst OF wrecked work;
then I sought company of young men
and heard them talk Of the dead. That's
the second death among people l know
within the year" said one. Yes, the
second death" said another.
smiled very large smile.
And you know" said a third. who
was the oldest OF the party, they've
opened the new road by the head of
, Tresihon road. and the wind blows
straight across that level square from
the parks Everything is changing about
us"
He was an old man" said
"fe-es. More than middle-aged." said
they.
And he outlved his reputation"
"Oh, no, or how would he have taken
the designs for the Burgoyne cathedral?
/ Why, the very day he died ."
Yes said l. He died at the end OF
a completed work-his designs finished.
his prize awarded"
Yes; but he didn't live to ="
And his illness lasted Il days OF "a
hours each?"
Yes
And he was tended by his own kith
and kin. dying with his head on his
wlie's breast. his hand in his only sons
hand, without any thought of their pos
IN Ia
things 500
"Ye-es," said they, Wasn't it shock
ing"
Shocking" I said. Get out OF this
Elace. Go forth. run about and see what
death really means. You have described
such dying as a god might envy and a
king might pay half his ransom to make
certain Of. Wait till you have seen men
strong men OF So. with little children.
die at two days notice penniless and
alone, and seen il not-onCe but 2O times
wait till you have seen the young girl die
within a fortnight OF the wedding; or
the lover within three days OF his mar
riage; or the mother-sixty little min
utes before her son can come to her
side; wait till you hesitate before hand
ling your daily newspaper for fear of
reading of the death of some young man
that you have dined with, drank with
shot with. lent money to and borrowed
till you dare not hope for the death of
an old man, but, when you are strongest,
count up the tale of your acquaintance
and friends, wondering how many will
be alive six months hence Wait till
you have heard men calling in the death
hour on kin that cannot come; till you
have dned with a man one night and
seen him buried on the next Then you
can begin to whimper about lonliness
and change and desolation." Here
toamed at the mouth
And do you mean to say" drawled a
young gentleman, that there is any So
ciety in which that sort OF holocaust goes
on?"
II do" said I. ITS not society; it's
life" And they laughed.
And this is the old tale of Pharaoh's
chariot wheels and flying fish.
If l tell them yarns they say: How
true! How true!" II l try to present
the truth they say; What superb inn
agination"
But you understand don't you?
Grahame-WhIte Won Aviation Meet.