THE HEROES WHO REMAINED

The women who left the ship; the men who remained--
there is little to choose between them for heroism. Many of
the women compelled to take to the boats would have stayed,
had it been possible, to share the fate of their nearest and
dearest, without whom their lives are crippled, broken and
disconsolate.

The heroes who remained would have said, with Grenville.
"We have only done our duty, as a man is bound to do."
They sought no palms or crowns of martyrdom. "They also
serve who only stand and wait," and their first action was
merely to step aside and give places in the boats to women
and children, some of whom were too young to comprehend
or to remember.

There was no debate as to whether the life of a financier,
a master of business, was rated higher in the scale of values
than that of an ignorant peasant mother. A woman was a
woman, whether she wore rags or pearls. A life was given for
a life, with no assertion that one was priceless and the other
comparatively valueless.

Many of those who elected to remain might have escaped.
"Chivalry" is a mild appellation for their conduct. Some
of the vaunted knights of old were desperate cowards by comparison.
A fight in the open field, or jousting in the tournament,
did not call out the manhood in a man as did the waiting