cluded it was now only a question of minutes before it
went; and so it proved."

Mr. Beasley went on to tell of the spectacle of the sinking of the
Titanic, the terrible experiences of the survivors in the life-boats and
their final rescue by the Carpathia as already related.

CHAPTER XV. JACK THAYER'S OWN STORY OF THE WRECK

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD OFFICIAL TELLS
MOVING STORY OF HIS RESCUE--TOLD MOTHER TO BE BRAVE--SEPARATED FROM
PARENTS--JUMPED WHEN VESSEL SANK--DRIFTED ON OVERTURNED BOAT PICKED UP
BY CARPATHIA

ONE of the calmest of the passengers was: young Jack Thayer, the
seventeen-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Thayer. When his mother
was put into the life-boat he kissed her and told her to be brave,
saying that he and his father would be all right. He and Mr. Thayer
stood on the deck as the small boat in which Mrs. Thayer was a passenger
made off from the side of the Titanic over the smooth sea.

The boy's own account of his experience as told to one of his rescuers
is one of the most remarkable of all the wonderful ones that have come
from the tremendous catastrophe:

"Father was in bed, and mother and myself were about to get into bed.
There was no great shock, I was on my feet at the time and I do not
think it was enough to throw anyone down. I put on an overcoat and
rushed up on A deck on the port side. I saw nothing there. I then went
forward to the bow to see if I could see any signs of ice. The only ice
I saw was on the well deck. I could not see very far ahead, having just
come out of a brightly lighted room.

"I then went down to our room and my father and mother came on deck with
me, to the starboard side of A deck. We could not see anything there.
Father thought he saw small pieces of ice floating around, but I could
not see any myself. There was no big berg. We walked around to the port
side, and the ship had then a fair list to port. We stayed there looking
over the side for about five minutes. The list seemed very slowly to be
increasing.

"We then went down to our rooms on C deck, all of us dressing quickly,
putting on all our clothes. We all put on life-preservers, and over
these we put our overcoats. Then we hurried up on deck and walked
around, looking out at different places until the women were all ordered
to collect on the port side.

SEPARATED FROM PARENTS

"Father and I said good-bye to mother at the top of the stairs on A
deck. She and the