The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-04-27

Is rarely 4 man Of mediocre intellectual pow
ers. For the greater part Of the active du-
ties of life he is 10 better fitted than most
mer, simply because he cannot carry on his
training in connection with them. If Heen-
an had to work with the Lynn shoemakers,
or Tom Savers had to toll through the night
With our composi'ors, they would both be-
likely to break down as soon as the majority.
The training which is to be gained in hun
dred ways. and upon which, We are glad to
see public opinion is more and more insist
ing, is ordinarily worth far more than the
special, absorbing discipline OF the common
pugiIist.
As to the courage it is supposed to sive,it
probably amounts to mere confidence in
ones powers for the particular emergency
for which they are trained, and has nothing
to DO with the moral courage and heroIsm
requisite fer trying occasions, with which
muscle cannot cope. On this point. Hugh
Miller gives a couple of anecdotes in his
"Firs, Impression, of Enslard," which, as
tod in his vigorous and graphic language.
are very interesting, as we'll as Instructive
lie saws:
Il have been told by an aged relative, now
deceased, who saw much service. that in the
first great naval battle in which he , ~ en-
gagged, and the first great storm he expert
enced, there were ,wU men- one in each III
s,ance-whose cowardice was palpabe ard
apparent to the whole crew, and who agreed
So far in character, that each was the cham
pion pugilis: and bully o. lis vessel. The
bastard IN the enSagement-that Of Camp
erGown-was d.tt cted coiling up his craven
bulk in place of conccalmert. out Of reach
Of the SHOT the bastard in the storm was
rendered, by the extremeness OF his terror,
uni, for duty The vessel in which my rel
alive sailed at the time was one of those old
fashioned. iron-fastened ships Of the lane,
that. previous to the breaking ont OF the frs,
revolutionary war, had been living in dock
for years, and that, carefully kept, so far 4:
least as externaIs were concerned, looked ex
tremely well when first sent to sea. bat prov
ed miserable weather-hoats amid the strain
ing Of gale. when their stiff rusty bolti?g
began to slacken and work out.
The gale, in this especial instance. proved
q very tremendous one, and the old Mag
ni6ccnt went scuddns before it far into the
Northern Ocean. under bare poles. She be-
~ md kn
piece OF basket work. and though the pumps
were piled necessarily by half hour relays.
the water rose fast within the hold and she
threatened to 60 down. My relative was STA
toned in the we'll room during one Of the
night watches. just as the tempest had reach
cd lis crisis, to take note of the state CT the
leakage, and a man came round every quar-
ter Of an hour to receive his report. The
water. dimly visible by the lantern of horn.
rose fast along the gauge. covering itch at
ter inch, four feet and half-tour feet nine
five fee,-iiye feet thret-li>e feet and a
half-the customary quarter of an hour had
long elapsed, yet no one appeared to report,
and the solitary watcher, wondering at the
delay, raised the little hatch directly above
his head and stepped out upon the orlop to
represent the state Of matters below. Di-
rectiy over the opening picture of cold, Vel
low terror petritying into stone. stood the
cowed brui>er, with lantern dangling idly
from his finger points. What make YOU
here" asked my relative. Come to report
Report is that reporting?' 'O-how many
feet water Five and half. Five feet
and half. exclaimed the unnerved bully,
striking his hands together, and letting the
lantern fail into the open ha,ch-'Five feet
and half Gracious heaven, it's all over
with u.s. Nothing. have more than once
heard my relative remark. 50 strongly i'm
pressed him during the tcIrors of the gale,
as the dread-impres>ed features and the tear
modulatcd tones Of the unhappy man. "-BoS-
ton Journal.