Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-09-19
Overheard
A Labor Day
Story
By John T.Oining

An ocean lllEF was GOul1lS dCfOSS Tue
Atlantic. In the main portion Of the
ship, fitted up with every convenience,
every luxury, were millionaires and
multimillionaires, some Of whom had
been prominent in the London social
season, and not a few brought with
them jewels, a fortune In themselves.
that had blazed in many a ballroom In
Englands capital. There was one man
aboard occupying suit of apartments
the price Of which for four days
trip would give workingman com
Portable home for lifetime. These
people, seemingly regardless of being
suspended betweeuthe heavens above
and the bottom Of an ocean several
miles beneath them, wore their fine
clothes at dinner, and in the evening
ate choice yiands, drank the best wines.
listened to music, firted. even danced.
while the hours glided happily away to
the swish of the waves against the
leviathan's side-a gayly careless lot
seemingly oh ivious to the cares and
sorrows Of this world.
How different the underworld, which
on shipboard is as far beneath the up
per world as on land! In the steerage
was many a family packed in their
narrow quarters. eating the homeliest
fare, and many. though accustomed to
the ordinary wine Of their country.
were drinking only water, and that out
of tin cups.
Among these Steerage passengers was
one Adolph Stair, a Swede, young
man twenty five years old, with his
bride, Amelia, six years his Junior.
They had left their native country,
their simple peasant life. to seek
home in the new world. Adolph was
mason by trade, and Amelia had work
ed In factory in her native land, be-
coming expert at weaving. They had
heard that in America the price Of
labor had, by the united effort of the
laborers, been raised to what seemed
to them a veryshigh figure. Accus-
toned as they had been to living on a
pittanee, they believed that, receiving
these wages, they could save money
enough within a few years to build
them a home in which they might live
comfortably for the rest of their days.
And so, putting together all the mon
ey they had with something that their
parents gave them, they set out on
their long journey for what was to
them q land Of PROMISE Taking ship
for England, they there re-embarked
for America.
Half their journey across the Allan
| ho6 W nuo
afternoon q fog settled down over the
waters. Fogs on the sea-. are dreaded
by mariners, and, although the dress
ing in fine clothes, the feasting, the
wine drinking, the music, went on
among the passengers in the main part
Of the ship, many heard the constant,
deep toned toot-toot Of the fog whistle
warning vessels that might be near.
But at lastAan aboard the great ship
except those whose duty it was to sail
her were in their berths.
Suddenly there was a crash forward.
the sleepers We're awakened, all Jared,
some thrown out Of their berths There
was mad rush to the deck, many 60
ing up in their nightclothes, where
they found confusion and saw the
lights OF a ship drifting away from
them. Fading into the fog they soon
passed out Of sight. The captain stood
ON the bridge coolly giving his orders,
but few Of them were obeyed. Above
the babel was the wild cry for help
from the wireless machine. From the
first the crew realized that the liner
had been hard hit, and the worst was
feared. Those who were sent to ex-
anime the damage came running back
to report that the foremost bulkhead
was rapidly filling and that others
astern Of it were in danger of giving
way.
An hour later when it was known
that the ship was sinking the boats
were lowered and the women and chill
d"en put into them The men Of mil
lions for the first time in their lives
came to position where the wife and
child Of an emigrant were permitted
to step into a lifeboat while they them
selves must remain to go down with
the ship.
One parting among those who were
to 60 and those who were to remain
it is the province OF this story to men,
ton. Amelia Stahr chung to her hus-
band and refused to leave him. TAX
ing her In >his arms, he carried her to
one of the boats, put her in and be-
fore she could get out the boat was
lowered and pulled away from the ship.
The gray of the morning revealed
the leviathan a few miles distant, half
sunken, resting on the water like
dying sea monster. Slowly she settled,
watched by those in the boats, nearly
all of whom knew that some loved one
was soon to go down to death with
her. Then raising her huge stern she
plunged downward, and the place
where she had been was but a part of
the boundless ocean:
Safety came for those in the boats
| in the appearance of a steamer that
had heard the wireless cry for succor.
J The boats were relieved of their bur-
den, and those who had left the sunk
: en- ship were carried into an American
port.
Amelia Stair on reaching the land
with her fellow sufferers received ev-
cry attention. Bnt for this the case
would have been hard indeed. Never
theless it did not relieve the desola.
ton of coming to a new land a bride
widow. As soon as it was known what
labor she could do those intrusted with
kh4 10 o~S. kho