The young American mother saw that among these people there was no hope of being saved; she and her children were doomed.

***

There were a young bride and groom on board who were on their honeymoon.  Their cabin was far down in the body of the ship, and they had slept so soundly that they had not even heard the collision.  Nor was there much commotion in their part of the boat afterward.  And as no one had thought of calling them, they were still asleep when every one else was on deck fighting for the lifeboats.  But they woke when the propeller, which the whole night had been revolving directly under their heads, suddenly stopped.  The husband hurriedly drew on a garment or two, and ran out to see what was up.  In a few minutes he returned.  He carefully closed the cabin door after him before uttering a word.  Then he said: 

“The ship is sinking.”

At the same time he sat down, and when his wife would have rushed out, he begged her to remain with him.

“The boats have all gone,” he said.  “Most of the passengers have been drowned, and those who are still on the ship are now up on deck, fighting desperately for rafts and life belts.”  He told her that in the gangway he was obliged to step over a woman who had been trampled to death, and that he had heard the cries of the doomed on all sides.  “There’s no chance of our being saved, so don’t go out!  Let us die together!”

The young bride felt that he was right, and resignedly sat down beside him.

“You wouldn’t like to see all those people struggling and fighting,” he said.  “Since we’ve got to die anyway, let us at least have a peaceful death.”

She knew that it was no more than right that she should stay there with him the few short moments of life still left to them.  Had she not promised to give him a whole life time of devotion?

“I had hoped,” he went on, “that after we had been married many, many years, you would be sitting by me when I lay on my deathbed, and I would thank you for a long and happy life partnership.”

At that moment she saw a thin streak of water trickling in through the crack under the door.  This was too much for her.  She threw up her arms in despair.  “I can’t!” she cried.  “Let me go!  I can’t stay shut in here waiting for death.  I love you, but I can’t do it!”

She rushed out just as the ship heeled over before going down.

***

Young Mrs. Gordon was lying in the water, the steamer had sunk, her children were lost, and she herself had been deep under the sea.  She had then come to the surface for the third time and knew that in another moment she would be sinking again, and that that would mean death.

Then her mind no longer dwelt upon her husband or children, or upon anything else of this earth.  She thought only of lifting up her soul to God.  And her soul rose like a liberated prisoner.  Her spirit, rejoicing in the thought of casting off the heavy shackles of human existence, jubilantly prepared to ascend to its real home.  “Is death so easy?” she mused.