132 ELISHA KENT KANE. 



after his arrival at Havana he discovered that re- 

 covery was hopeless ; he became conscious that his 

 last hour rapidly approached; and he yielded to 

 his destiny with the self-possessed resignation and 

 composure of a hero and a Christian. At his own 

 request, favorite portions of Scripture were daily 

 read in his hearing, to which he listened, even 

 when racked by the acutest pangs of suffering, with 

 devout attention, and which seemed greatly to so- 

 lace and cheer him. One incident which occurred 

 in the dying chamber of that youthful hero well 

 deserves to be held in remembrance. It had been 

 his fate, as it is invariably the lot of superior genius 

 and success, to pay the penalty of such rare gifts 

 by incurring the jealousy, the malice, and the per- 

 secution of those meaner and baser reptiles of the 

 human species who thus revenge themselves for 

 their own insignificance and inferiority. From 

 such as these Dr. Kane had suffered aggravated 

 wrongs; yet even these, upon his death-bed, he 

 himself cordially forgave, and demanded a similar 

 sentiment from his weeping relatives around him. 

 In this act there was displayed a moral sublimity 

 and a philosophy which words cannot describe ; for if 

 the forgiveness of enemies be the most difficult and 

 elevated duty of Christian ethics ; if the sublimest 

 teachings of human philosophers, either ancient or 



