Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-04-24
WOMEN AND CHILDREN. FIRST

S. E. KISER in Ct
"WoMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST"
The following editorial by Louis
Murphy, editor Of the Telegraph;
Herald, is the best we have 5. seen
on the sinking OF the Titanic: A
Boats enough to take off S06 Of
the THAMES passengers, and 1341
doomed to go down with the ship,
who should live, who die? 1
1.-THE law Of the sea answered,
"Save the women and children
first" And the law Of the sea was
obeyed. I
Let the mind form the picture
when Death put blighting hand up
on the ship Down below, in the
steerage, were huddled hundreds Of
the poor, the uneducated, the unfav-
ored. Above them, in the second
cabin, were hundreds of the more
favored by fortune, and above them
other hundreds still more favored.
The decks marked I the cleavages
which society makes between the
rich and the poor. the literature,
and the nliterate, the proud
and the humble They were, in their
respective groups, marked off one
from another as the institution
which men call society drew the
Lines. s5. h
$" Suddenly the crash Of ship upon
iceberg! Suddenly the panic Of
fear! Suddenly the conformation Of
every human soul with death! In
the twinkling Of an eye, in the time
Of lightning's flash they We're weld
ed into a common mass, one as help.
less as another and all impotent
against the embarrassed force OF
nature, the decree of God. Not then
thought of rank or station, Of wealth
or blood, Of intellect or culture, Of
creed or power. Then realization OF
the omnipotence Of God and the in
consequence OF, men. Then recosni-
ton that the space Of the individual
life is but a moment in the eternity
OF years, and that Death is the
great leveler.
"In the moment Of awful fear when
the thousands looked into eternity
there flashed, we may believe, in the
consciousness Of every one the in
stinct Of self-preseryation. But above
1.-THE shrieks Of the panic stricken,
above the hiss Of steam and the
noise Of scurrying feet, there rang
out the voice of Civilization, the Law
of the sea, Women and children
first! For all that civilization had
| done to set off class from class, for
all that it had done to favor one at
the expense of another, for all the
effort it had put forth to, set aside
the lessons of Sinai, the example OF
Christ, mute upon the cross, rose be
fore the eyes OF that multitude and
in the presence of death the primal
instinct of the ages was forgotten the
law of the sea found utterance of
the men, Women and children
first"
"iSublimer spectacles than this no
age ever saw. The days Of old
knew no chivalry to compare with
it. The pages Of history ring with
praises Of the heroes of many bat
tlefields, but pen could not find
eulogy fit for these heroes OF peace.
| The sea their grave, out of the
north in the spring will come green
houghs and flowers upon the
crest of waves, tribute Of nature to
these dead; and from the heavens
will come rain which will be the
tears of angels she'd in grief that
they had to- die. And for generations
unnumbered the story of the wreck
of the Titanic will be handed down,
and it will be recited that when the
men aboard her might have saved
themselves, they cried out women
and children first" And that one
man was very rich, with more than
hundred million dollars in his
store, and that he helped inc life
boat a woman Of the steerage whose
thanks he could not understand; that
another, great painter whose can
vases are imperishable, had lifted
in arms boy who spoke a language
he did not know, ard PVT him in his
mothers arms, both to- be rowed to
safety. That these and others
men all-stood upon the sinking
ship and waved a last farewell to
those whom they had saved and in
whose places they died, nor felt a
tremor of regret, and bravely went
to death. Winkelreid gathering to
his breast the spears of the Austrian
phalanx, Horatius at the bridge, and
Leonidas at the pass-praises of
these all history sings. But written
in the book where are recorded sac.
rificial deeds, written in the hearts
of the billions of the living in this
world, is gratitude greater than his
tory can pay-gratitude that these
men were able to rise above the
primal instinct of the flesh and say,
women and children first" and
then unflinchingly, with prayers up
on their lips, and the supreme test
of love well met go down into the
deep grave. !