JULY 27, 1850.
One of our
colleagues, Mr. Daniel P. King of Danvers, is dead. . . . What a series of
startling events befall us! and yet how little they are heeded! As we sail
along, the cry is raised, “A man overboard!" There is a momentary arrest;
but soon the ship is on its way again as if nothing had happened. There is no
place so good to die in as at the post of duty. When Smith O'Brien was on his
trial for treason in Ireland, and while he was sitting in the dock, which is
the criminal box, he was asked for his autograph; upon which he wrote,
"Whether on the gallows high,
Or in the battle's van,
The fittest place for man to die
Is where he dies for man."
A noble sentiment,
beautifully expressed!
SOURCE: Mary Tyler
Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 309
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