The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-02-12
Tinaid People.

Second, first began to doubt the power of
hls wooden gods, he made very bold ex-
Ecrlment. 1t was the custom, when the
laiHtlans caught turtle, to send it to the
king, to be dressed with sacred fire for his
tabIe-lt was accounted a sacred animal.
On the occasion to which we allude tur-
tie was sent, and when the servants were
taking it to the IDOLS temple, the king
, called them back, and commanded them
to cook 1t in his own oven; they were as
tonlshcd, bat obeyed. When the food was
presented to his savage majesty, they ex-
Pected every moment that he would fall
INTO commissions or drop down dead. He
invited his attendants to taste the food, but
they all refused. They were looking for
Judgment on the kings person, and as it
did not come that day, they looked for it
on the morrow; but, as no Judgment came,
this one act of majesty became the crisis Of
nation and national religion. The gods
were soon after treated as mere logs of
wood.
Now, was this courageous act or was
1t not! Very courageous, some will saw.
1t seems courageous, like many other ac-
tons, when you look at one side of it only:
but ityou look on another sido, it assumes
timld character, like many other bold
AMI daring deeds. The missionaries had
succeeded in frightening Pomare with
hades, and its atmosphere of liquid fire
"bIack fire and horror" as Milton calls il
and they had poured into his mind all
the popular doctrine respecting that future
place of fearful retribution. They had
caused him to suspect that there was a
greater spirit than his god Orc, and that
1t would be for his interest to curry favor
with the greater power. In state of Sc
rI"us mental doubt and anxiety he made
the above experiment.
l. 1T a hold one, nowl, Was it COURAGE
of Hindlty that induced Pomare to cook
the turtle in his own oven, and eat it, with
out sending the first morsel, or even a NOR
sci at all, to the idoll
ltwas just rs much the one as the other.
1t was judicious action-it was the sim
pie act Of thinker and reasoner. Po-
mare was studying subject, and he took
what seemed to him the most direct and
conclusive mode of coming to a solution:
but he would not, probably, have found the
courage to test the power Of the idol if he
had not previously been impressed with a
great fear of higher power. 1t was fear,
then, that gave him courage! Fear give
man courage! Yes, fear is actually the
source of courage; and where no fear is,
courage is wanting.
This seems like paradox, but it is not
one. We do not s.y that the fear that
gives courage is excessive; far from it, for
then courage is overwhelmed; we merely
say that little fear or sense of danger is
necessary to stimulate the courage
When we encounter danger without any
sense OF fear, our conduct is called reck-
lesSncss; this is lower in rank than cour-
age, merely because it wants that little
portion of fear which is the immediate
source of prudence in all adventurous ac-
tons.
Timidity is one of the constituents of
prudence. Every wise man is timid; nav,
he has large amount of timidity in his
character. Every good man must fear
evil; he must fear public opinion; he
must fear conscience. These are all as
poets Of that holy fear, which is the be-
ginning of wisdom. 1t is, therefore, but
an evil principle of action, though gener-
ally understood in an evil sense.
The reason why it is understood in an
evil sense is, that it is merely one extreme
Of character without the other-the other
extreme is quite as bad. That other ex-
tremc, however, is not courage; for, as
we have already seen, courage has a mix
turc of fear within it. But the other ex-
treIne is mere recklessness; which is far
more foolish than timidity, and holds as
low place in the scalesof character. The
best principles are not simple bat com
pound principles, made up Of two or more
extremes or opposites.
Timidity, as we have already seen, may
| prompt man to do bold action. A
timid man will run into VOLTS den to
escape the jaws of crocodile broodinQ
hen will attack even dog--and a mo
ther will leap into the deep water to save
drowning child. The fear of q greater
evil supplies the resolution TO encounter a
less. These bold actions, however, are
not considered courageous. Courage re-
sists the greater evil; it attacks the croco-
die with so much fear and caution aa are
indispensable to render the attack judici-
Gus and successful. In the case Of the
brooding hen and the mother there IL only
one evil TO encounter--that ia, the do0 IN
the one case, and the water in the other
but there are two fears, the fear of loss d
offspring, and the fear of self-danQer. The
excess Of one fear destroys the other, and Z
SEEMING courage u the result But Il
wants the GOODNESS, the caution Of cour.
age. The mother is violently excited
and losing entirely her presence Of mind
regardless and thonghtless of ail judiciouI
means Of accomplishing her end, she leap.
directly into the water, and perishes, per