IN THE FACE OF DEATH.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1922, Page 10

IN THE FACE OF DEATH.

LAST WORDS AND ACTIONS. ENTERING THE GREATEST OF MYSTERIES. The nameless hero of the Grontoft, the radio* operator of the Norweigan steamer who jested with death as his ship sank in a mid-Atlantic hurricane this spring, has caused several millions to ask themselves how much nerve they have and what their words and actions will be when it at last becomes evident to them that the light is flickering, says a writer in the New York Tribune. “Well, the steward is making sandwiches for lifeboats. Looks like we were going oh a picnic,” wired the Grohtdft operator in one of his jesting comments which were picked up by the Danish steamer Estonia. “We are sinking stern first,” came the final message. “The boats aye smashed. Can’t hold out any longer. Where did I put my hat? Sorry we can’t wait for you. Pressing business elsewhere.” During the Great War it was freouently observed that the British soldiers were wont to die with stoic calm, that the emotional nature of the Frenchiman often expressed itself, not unmanfully, in tears, and that the Americans in many cases were known to die with a laugh or a joke on their lips. History shows many varieties of during the last hour, and the bitter jest does not seem to be confined to any nationality. Thomas Hood, the English poet, is said to have remarked that he was dying out of charity to the undertaker, expressing himself in a lowly pun. He referred to the undertaker as wishing “to urn a lively Hood.” The scaffold of the executioner was the scene of many bitter last-minute observations. “No, no; you can get them off more easily afterward. Make haste! Make haste!” said Louis Philippe Joseph to his executioner who attempted to pull off his long and handsome riding boots, which fitted tight to his legs. “It is small, very small, indeed,” said Anne Boleyn, clasping her neck. Robert Burns remained true to type till the end, expressing himself with blunt Scotch Wit: “Don’t Ist that *wk-.

ward squad fire over my grave,” he is reported as saying. i Lord Chesterfield’s last words conformed properly to the social amenities which his life exalted. “Give Dayrobbe a chair,” he said. The maximum expressing the futility of earthly possessions, “Shrouds have no pockets,” was recognised with frank ! regret by Rachel, the French actress. | Fondly contemplating her jewels, she i said, “And must I part with these so soon!” While even the basest of monarchs usually commended their spirits to God when the hour of death approached there were some who with their last breath gave voice to a regret or even a curse. “O shame! shame!” exclaimed unhappy Henry 11. “I am a conquered king—a conquered king! Curse be the day on which I was born and cursed be the children that I leave behind me!” Alexander Pope at tjie last uttered a good-natured paradox. A friend called to see him as he sat in a chair, dying, just after his physician, who had spoken encouragingly of his condition, had gone out. In answer to the friend’s inquiry relative to his death, he said: “I am dying of a hundred good symptoms.” Hundreds of dying people, whose words have been recorded, have spoken of the pleasantness of death. “If I had the strength to hold a pen,” said William Hunter. “I would write how easy and delightful it is to die.” “I feel the daisies growing over me,” said the poet Keats. Among the dying words most frequently quoted are those of William Sidney Porter (O, Henry), so typical of the man himself. When he was expiring in a New York hospital in 1910 he said to the nurse: “Turn up the lights. I don’t want to go home in the dark,” applying the words of the popular song which was then being whistled in the streets. . Rousseau, not unlike O. Henry, asked for more light, bidding. his wife open the window that he might see once more the magnificent scene of nature. There is certainly nothing of irreverence in most of the bitter, laconic expressions of those who have “business elsewhere.” It is of such stuff as well as of prayers and humble confessions that the human drama is made. The courageous mariner who enters the greatest of mysteries with a stout., heart and a smile on his lips is a worthy example for ub all.