The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-21
"REnEMRERiInIraAmrr

oucn were the last words OF young muir
derer before his execution. He stood upon
the scafiold, the rope around his neck, and
with but a few moments between him and
eternity. Yet instead Of being overwhelmed
by thoughts and feelings natural to that awful
hour, he took pride in his own stolidity of
nerve, and called upon the crowd to mark
that che died game" Brave lellowl He had
the courage of a herol These exclamatons,
we doubt not, broke from many who peruaed
the narrative Of the execution.
No, he was not brave fellow; and it is
strange that men should mistake the mere
brutal insensibility of such criminals for that
virtue which is the central spring of noble
character. 1t is not only in the case of per.
sons who have shown their capability of COM
uniting the most horrible crimes without
pang of remorse, but in regard to certain
kinds of soldiers on the battlefield, that we
often fall into the grave error of dgnifying a
mere quality Of physical nature with the name
of an exalted virtue of the soul. A man may
be perfectly calm and impossible while hun
dred cannon are laundering death around
him, and yet want genuine bravery; while the
noble quality may often be most gloriOusly
manifested In frail and shrinking frames.
CHARLES JAMES NAPIER, endowed by
nature with such extreme sensitiveness of
nerve that a harsh sound caused him to shud-
per, and Mortified by the bloody scenes Of
war, yet maintaining clear, calm intellect in
the heat Of battle, and giving explicit drec-
tions to surgeons while suffering the most
acute agonies in his mangled body was an
| example of true courage. NEY, walking at
the head of the Old Guard up to the muzzles
of two hundred blazing cannon at Waterloo,
was simply an iron machine, insenSibe to
fear. KANE, rached with mortal disease, and
| with nervous fibre almost destroyed, yet
derying the rigors Of an appalling cold,
maintaining an ascendancy over men
stronger in body than himself, and with
amazing prudence and sagacity conducting
their retreat from world Of night and ice TO
the haunts of civilized beings, was brave.
MEG AIRY, laboring twenty-five hours at the
oar, vet giving way to despair under less
suffering than KANE endured almost without
a murmur, was simply what his commander
called him, an iron man." The stalwarl
WINDHAM, calm and collected amid the horrors
of the Redan, Is called a brave man; but WI
doubt whether he would have dared the dan
gers of the hospitals like the gentle FLoRENcI
NIGHTINGALE and her associate nurses
There were strong men at Norfolk, who wou
have faced the foe in time Of war, and die
d game in defense of their city. But they 1e
from the breath Of pestilence, and left rela
u tives and friends INTENDED and unburie(
/ while a delicate woman from New York too
the place they should have occupied.
" The distinction between true bravery an
- mere physical hardness is important and
ought TO be more strongly insisted upon tha
- we find It TO be in general. 1t Is too muc
~ -, the custom to talk OF the courage Of criminal
~ as if it were a reGeeming virtue, walsh the
ho possessed in common with the great chara,
~ tiers Of history and eulogies of the NOR
y apathy Of the reckless soldier are extrcmcl
" extravagant Ply steal iirmness is an attribu
which men receive from nature. Moral res
- luton "the spirit TO combat against ever
- trial, which alone is true bravery"-is
1,1 quality Of the immortal part, which we IN,
- all cultivate, even In the humble walks of liz
-, and, In this respect the weakest may b
80 come the most admirable in their strength.
,a There is moi day in the career OF every m'
-, or woman chat does not present some tempt
,ta tion to be resistod-some difficulty to be owe
49,, come; and each act of resistance, and eaC
n victory over obstacles that appeared insu
49, mountable, adds new force to the will, al
e.t strengthens the soul for greater struggle
,-a maintain its ascendaucy in the hour Of TT
mendous peril or appalling calamity. II
H., brutal indifference Of criminals to their fate
sos mean and paltry in comparison with that su
al lime determination which presses on
ts achievement, in spite of the ills of the fes
~. and of dangers of which we have an agoniziI
~ sense. The latter is the virtue that we wou
~ teach our rising generation. We would pref
-, that they should learn how TO 'sufier and
- strong" rather than acquire the faculty
.. "dying game" upon a scaffold.
~ Doctor SHERIDAN's prescription for Il
!, internal disorders Of the Shenandoah Vale