Juliet signal., 1861-05-07
Pluck

Noah Webster tells US that "plnck" il
the " inelegant" for courage; but il is de-
rlVed from word IN the tsrse and yigor-
Gus old Saxon tongue, sigEifying energetic
enort, aud Is curt aud expressive, IL not
euphonious. However opinions NAV differ
as to ITS acmissibiliiy within the pale Of
polite phraseoi0gy, we all have an udmira-
tion for irtGt Il means Like the word
ack5obe," now SO frequently used by
journalists as substitute for 'i;nIop,i,a-
bility," it hts the connections in which IA
Is used, botE in its prosody, and its sense.
better than any other phrase to be found
in the Dictionary.
As the Pithy aEtithesis Of fainthearted-.
ness and is lackadaisieal SYNONYMS. We
recommend this bluff expression as the
fitting shibboleth Of all who have tough
work IF any kind before them. In contests
OF all kinds-intellectual, moral. poIitical.
polemical and physical. pluck generally
carries the day. /, is essential alike TO the
controversialist and the warrior, the moral
reformer and the pugilist. the statesman
and the aiscovsrer. Without it Cnsar
would have failed at Pharsalia, and Colu.a.
bus in his search for New World. Ii is
the best instrument wherewith "out Of
the nettle, danger" to "pluek the flower
safely"
With somo people "pluck IS con.tiu.
honal quality. Children sometimes display
it IN their cradlehood. For the consolation
Of those who have it not by nature. LET MS
say that i'm may be acquired, or to speak
more correctly, that the policy natural
pluck would suggest, may be pursued as
the result Of sound reasoning. Abernethy,
the great English surgeon, according to the
testimony Of one Of his intimate friends,
was actually tinid and ditident man.
lie confessed indeed that his bold and
bT-usqne style of treating his patients, was
adopted irom conviction that, In the med
hcal profession, bashfulness and hesitancy
would not pay. 1t must be admitted that
he sometimes went into the other extreme.
but even that was better than faltering.
PugIlis;ic encounters are brutal affairs ::
but in the moral and intellectual prize,
fights which we sometimes have with For
tune, it would be we'll if every man could
take her hard buffets a. fellow named
Cooper took the blows Of his antagonist
Painter in prize Tirg sumo forts wears
ago. The former was knocked down afne-
teen times, but won the victory after ALL
Give us the man who can rise-as did cd
EnceladCs, the Titan, when kicked from
the sky to Earth by Jupiter-retTesked by
the contact with our common mother"
Depend upon it, there il nothing worth
doing to be done, in this world, without
"pluck." If asked to define the exrres-
sion we should say that no other word in
in the English language is. strictly speak.
ing. convertible with il. 1t is not courage,
pure and simple, but courage and EdelJoHs
energetic, progressive, undoabting, "nev-
er say die courage. There can be no
mental superemiDence without the mani
iestation Of this quality, or, at any rate,
without such course Of action as native
pluck would prompt. We say, therefore,
to the natural I mid and vascillating. Guilt
vate the virtue If you have it not, for il il
species Of capital absolutely necessary to
success in the Battle Of Life.