On the deck of the _Republic_ (January, 1909), when the
passengers had all departed, when Captain Sealby was left alone
with his men, with his ship, he stood before them. His voice
shook a little.
“Men of the _Republic_,” he said, “I am proud of you. You
have acquitted yourselves like men. I look upon no coward. The
darkness is drawing on”--it was then four o’clock Saturday
afternoon--“and the passengers are gone. You have now the right
to leave this vessel. She may sink; she may not--I can not say.
But you have done your duty; the boats are at your disposal--”
“How about you, captain?” interrupted a voice.
“I shall stand by the ship,” was the reply.
And then, in chorus, came a great shout:
“And we’ll stand by with you, captain.”
So they did, until, later in the evening, the captain compelled
all but fifty men to leave the vessel.
(1930)
* * * * *
The story of a little Boer boy who refused to betray his friends
even on the threat of death, is told by Major Seely, M.P., as an
illustration of deeply-rooted love of freedom and of country. It
happened during the Boer war:
“I was asked,” said Major Seely, “to get some volunteers and try
to capture a commandant at a place some twenty miles away. I
got the men readily, and we set out. It was a rather desperate
enterprise, but we got there all right. The Boer general had
got away, but where had he gone? It was even a question of the
general catching us, and not we catching the general. We rode
down to the farmhouse, and there we saw a good-looking Boer
boy and some yeomen. I asked the boy if the commandant had
been there, and he said in Dutch, taken by surprize, ‘Yes.’
‘Where has he gone?’ I said, and the boy became suspicious. He
answered, ‘I will not say.’
“I decided to do a thing for which I hope I may be forgiven,
because my men’s lives were in danger. I threatened the boy with
death if he would not disclose the whereabouts of the general.
He still refused, and I put him against a wall, and said I
would have him shot. At the same time I whispered to my men,
‘For heaven’s sake, don’t shoot.’ The boy still refused, altho
I could see he believed I was going to have him shot. I ordered
the men to ‘Aim.’ Every rifle was leveled at the boy.
“‘Now,’ I said, ‘before I give the word, which way has the
general gone?’ I remember the look in the boy’s face--a look
such as I have never seen but once. He was transfigured before
me. Something greater almost than anything human shone from his
eyes. He threw back his head, and said in Dutch, ‘I will not
say.’ There was nothing for it but to shake hands with the boy
and go away.”--_Singapore Straits Budget._
(1931)
* * * * *
I remember once taking a walk by the river near where the falls
of Niagara are, and I noticed a remarkable figure walking along
the river bank. When he came a little closer, I saw he was
wearing a kilt; when he came a little nearer still, I saw that
he was drest exactly like a Highland soldier. When he came quite
near, I said to him, “What are you doing here?” “Why should I
not be here?” he said. “Don’t you know this is British soil?
When you cross the river you come into Canada.” This soldier was
thousands of miles from England, and yet he was in the kingdom
of England.
Wherever there is an English heart beating loyal to the ruler of
Britain, there is England. Wherever there is a man whose heart is
loyal to the King of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is within
him.--HENRY DRUMMOND.
(1932)
* * * * *
A young girl came to headquarters faint and exhausted, her
body covered with marks of cruel beatings administered by her
father and brother. It was their way of convincing her that
she must accept the offer of her former employer to give her
more than twice the wages that she had received before the
shirt-waist strike in New York, 1909, and to send an automobile
to take her to and from work if she would return to her former
position. That she could decline an offer of such magnificence
was conclusive proof to them that a girl is too stupid to make
her own decisions; so they proceeded to decide for her and to
communicate their decision in their own vigorous fashion.
“Will you go?” asked the little group surrounding her.
“Never till I die,” was the unfaltering response, “unless
the other girls be taken back, and unless we may stay by the
union. To that did not we all pledge our word?” “But,” she
added wearily, “I think they will kill me. See! Here it is that
yesterday they pulled out so much of my hair. To-day, again,
they beat me. To-morrow, surely, they will kill me. I can not
bear more.”
When offered a place of safety and protection, she hesitated for
a little time, then said, “My mother, she is away at work. Not
to find me when she comes home at evening--that would trouble
her. I must go home to her.”
The will which could not be conquered by force was coupled with
loyalty, with love, no less unconquerable. The friend who had
offered her protection understood, for she, too, was a woman.
Shall the stone and mortar and machinery of factories or the
bank accounts of their owners be ranked as assets of greater
value to the nation than the life, the health, the welfare, of
such womanhood?--_The World To-day._
(1933)