St. Nicholas Vol. XIII, September, 1886, No. 11: An Illustrated Magazine for Young FolksVarious
History
St. Nicholas Vol. XIII, September, 1886, No. 11: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals; Children's periodicals, American
"Help! quick! I'm going! Oh, help! help!" rang in his ears and spurred
him to do his utmost, as he headed straight for the sailboat,
disregarding the waves that broke now and then into his own boat.
When Charlie got up to the wreck, he presented the bow of his boat first
to the man who had emerged from under the sail. This young man took
hold, then lost his grip and went down as the water tossed the boat; and
Charlie held on to the seat to keep from being pitched after him. Then
the man came up, gurgling, sputtering, and getting a new hold on the
boat succeeded in scrambling in. Holding the boat into the teeth of the
wind, Charlie then brought the bow to the other man in the water, and so
took him aboard. There were now three people and a great deal of water
in the boat; and Charlie concluded that it had all it would carry, and
that it would be necessary to land his two passengers before taking the
stout young man who maintained an uneasy perch on the capsized yacht.
Shouting some words of encouragement to him, Charlie started for the
shore; but the young man on the boat, benumbed by his ducking and the
icy wind, and perhaps discouraged at seeing the rowboat leave him, fell
off the capsized yacht into the water with a cry for help. Charlie put
back just in time to grab him as he again let go his hold, and began to
sink. But the rowboat had all it would bear in such a sea, and before
taking him aboard, it was necessary to make the others throw overboard
their wet coats and overcoats. Then the stout young man was pulled in
over the stern, and Charlie soon brought the rowboat, staggering under
its load of four persons and a great weight of water, safely to dock. A
little while after, the three dripping duck-hunters were drying by the
kitchen fire.
"I was under the sail," said one of them to me, "and if the boat hadn't
come to our help just when it did, it would have been the end of me."
A New York gentleman who heard of this affair wrote to the office of the
United States Life Saving Service, at Washington, asking for the silver
medal of the Government for Charlie Fraser. Of course there was a great
deal of formality to be gone through with; affidavits were made by
eye-witnesses, and filed away at Washington, and there the matter rested
for months. Meantime Charlie had no recognition of his act except a
letter from the mother of one of the young men, though he had, I
suppose, what was better--the consciousness of having done his duty
manfully in a pinch. One administration at Washington went out, and
another came in, and we concluded that the medal had been forgotten. But
one day there came to Charlie a very large official envelope, in the
corner of which there was boldly printed "Treasury Department." It was
also marked "Official Business," and was addressed in big letters and
looked very impressive. The inside of it seemed equally important, and
it read:
"MR. CHARLES M. FRASER:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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