Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1885 — A Brave Couple from Denver. [ARTICLE]

A Brave Couple from Denver.

“Ah! yes,” replied the doctor, “he certainly the coolest man I ever saw on a death-bed on an ocean steamer. i The second night out I was called to his cabin. He lay in his berth, this tall, gaunt Westerner, looking already like a Corpse. As I went in he said cheerily: ‘Doctor, it looks like I’d made a mistake. I reckon I ought not to have come to sea just now, but I kinder thought my strength’d hold out to get me to Italy, and there I might git round again.’ I knelt down by Ips side and carefully examined him. I told him that had he asked my advice before coming I should certainly have forbidden him to undertake the voyage. He smiled feebly and said: ‘I knew ye would, and that’s the reason I didn’t ask ye. Wife’n T made that up between us, didn’t we, wife ? Though I reckon she ’lowed I’d better stay at home.’ Death had already set his mark on the man’s brow. I told him as gently as I could that I feared the worst, but that he might succeed in weathering the voyage, which was a rough one. He interrupted me, saying: ‘That’s all right, doctor. Don’t you worry none about me. Es I die, jest have ’fem chuck me overboard, and don’t make no effort to get me to shore. I ain’t afraid on it, nary a bit, and my wife’s prepared to see me go.’ “His wife, seated on the cabin sofa, buried her face in her hands for a moment, but when she looked up again it was placid. As I went out he repeated, ‘Mind, now, what I tell ye, doctor, and just let ’em dump me right into the water. What difference does it make where a man is buried ?’ He died three days after this, and was, of. course, buried at sea. Two days after his burial his widow gave birth to A child. My heart went out to this desolate widow, about to be landed on a foreign shore, with a n&w-born babe in her arms. ‘Madam,’ I said, ‘your admirable courage is more than enough to awaken any one’s warmest sympathies. Can we not assist you in any manner ?’ What do you think she answered ? She said: ‘Doctor, don’t mind me; live seen a heap of trouble, and I’m used to it. The last child I bore, before this one, I was on a flat-boat, floating the Upper Missouri River, the Indians was firin’ at us from both sides of the stream, and my husband was fitin* ’em from the! boat. We’ve seen powerful hard times, but I don’t feel broke up yet. Thank God. I’ve got money enough to keep me goin’ a while, and I reckon 111 have to stay in England some, so’s to let this little one get big enough to go back again.’ She and her baby arrived safely in port, and I never saw them more.”— Brooklyn Eagle.