[originaltext] Many lovers promise to be together forever, in life and in de

Many lovers promise to be together forever, in life and in death, but I don’t believe I’ve heard of anyone whose faithful support and devotion matched that of Mrs.  Isidor Straus.
    The year was 1912. Mrs. Straus and her husband were passengers on the Titanic during its fateful voyage.  Not many women went down with the ship, but Mrs.  Straus was one of the few women who did not survive for one simple reason: She could not bear to leave her husband.
    This is how Mable Bird, Mrs.  Straus’s servant, who survived the disaster, told the story after she was saved.
    "When the Titanic began to sink, the frightened women and children were the first ones loaded into lifeboats. Mr. and Mrs. Straus were calm and comforting to the passengers, and helped many of them into the boats."
    "If it had not been for them,"  Mable stated,  "I would have drowned.  I was in the fourth or fifth lifeboat. Mrs.  Straus made me get into the boat."
    Then, Mr. Straus begged his wife to get into the lifeboat with her servant and others. Mrs. Straus started to get in. She had one foot on the edge, but then suddenly, she changed her mind, turned away and stepped back onto the sinking ship.
    "Please, dear, get into the boat ! "Her husband urged.
    Mrs. Straus looked deep into the eyes of the man with whom she’d spent most of her life, the man who had been her best friend, her heart’s true companion and always a comfort to her soul. She grabbed his arm and drew his trembling body close to hers.
    "No, "Mrs.  Straus is said to have replied with resistance.  "I will not get into the boat. We have been together through a great many years. We are old now.  I will not leave you.  Where you go, I will go."
    And that is where they were last seen, standing arm in arm on the deck, this devoted wife clinging courageously to her husband, this loving husband clinging protectively to his wife, as the ship sank.  Together forever.