An Example Of Love

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An Example Of Love
On the deck of a foundering vessel stood a negro slave. The last man left on board, he was about to step into the lifeboat. She was almost laden to the gunwale, to the water’s edge. Bearing in his arms what seemed a heavy bundle, the boats crew who with difficulty kept her afloat in the roaring sea, refused to receive him.

If he came it must be unincumbered and alone, on that they insisted. He must either leave that bundle and leap in, or throw it in and stay to perish.

Pressing it to his bosom, he opened its folds; and there, warmly wrapped, lay two little children, whom their father had committed to his care. He kissed them and bade the sailors carry his affectionate farewell to his master, telling him how faithfully he had fulfilled his charge.

Then lowering the children into the boat, which pushed off, the dark man stood alone on the deck, to go down with the sinking ship, a noble example of bravery, and true fidelity, and the “love that seeketh not its own.”