--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 9 published: 1912-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "A Love Story," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 9 (July 1912): 773.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1509unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1509unse start_page: 773 end_page: 773 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1509unse publication_year: 1912 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Love Story A Love Story A touching incident in the Titanic catastrophe was the death of Mr. and Mrs. Isadore Straus. It is related by Colonel Gracie, who was on the fated ship, and who gave one of the best descriptions of the disaster that was printed, that he heard them discussing between themselves the matter of separation, and they finally agreed that if they must die they would die together. When the officers urged Mrs. Straus to enter the lifeboat she refused to leave her husband. "We have lived together all these years," she said, "and I will not leave you now." No persuasion of the officers could move her determination. Mr. Stengel, another survivor, says that the officers then tried to make an exception in the case of Mr. Straus. "We told him," says Mr. Stengel, "that no one objected to an old gentleman like him going in the boat, but he said he would not leave until the other men did." So Mr. and Mrs. Straus went down together. Their action has been the subject for hundreds of poems, and will go down as a love story of the ages. A sad denoument, however, is the fact that Mr. Straus' body was recovered and taken to New York for burial while that, of his faithful wife remained in the deep sea — though their bodies were separated, their spirits went hand in hand to the better land. The Independent, New York, prints these lines under the title, "Together," by S. S. Cohen: T cannot leave thee, husband; in thine arm Enfolded, I am safe from all alarm. Tf God hath willed that we should pass, this night, Through the dark waters to Eternal Light, Oh, let us thank Him with our latest breath For welded life and undivided death.