“No,” said Harold, “but it is sad for the surviving relatives and friends. Oh, what a heart-breaking thing to lose our mother in that way, for instance!”
“Yes; such a terrible death,” said Herbert in moved tones.
“But the suffering was very short,” said Croly. “Doubtless consciousness was soon lost, and I have heard again and again that those who have been taken from the water apparently dead—so nearly gone that if left to themselves they would never have recovered consciousness—have said that it was an easy death to die. Those who die by disease must often and often suffer far more in the weeks and months while disease is slowly making its way to the citadel of life.”
“Yes, that is true,” answered Harold; “yet thinking of it all does not rouse in me any desire for drowning. I believe I have never told you, Will,” he added, facing round upon his friend and speaking in tones slightly tremulous with emotion, “that I was once as near drowning as one could be and live; yes, should probably never have recovered consciousness but for my dear mother’s determined perseverance with efforts at resuscitation, when every one else had given me up as dead.”
“No,” returned Croly in an awestruck tone, “I never heard it before. No wonder you love her so dearly, for leaving that out of the account, she is a woman in a thousand. Ah, I often envy you fellows when I see you with your mother and think of mine, sick and suffering away on the other side of the sea.”
“But you are hoping she and your father will return soon, are you not, Will?” asked Herbert in a tone of sympathy.
“Yes, I am hoping every day to hear that they are about sailing; but I have heard nothing at all for some weeks, and am growing more anxious day by day. Aunt and uncle try to comfort and reassure me with the old saying that ‘no news is good news,’ but—well, my only comfort is in casting my cares on the Lord, remembering that he cares for both them and me, and that his promise is, ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be.’”
“That is one of my mother’s favorite texts,” remarked Herbert, “and she says it has always been fulfilled to her.”
“And she has seen some sore trials?”