Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-01-28
Presence Of Mind.

priced at its true value, seldom preache,
upon, yet certain to avert many a dis
aster and deliver from many a peril
Were parents and teachers accustomet
to show their young ones how self-com
mand in some unexpected emergency
as in an outbreak of fire at midnight
would not only save themselves, bu
rescue a whole company of friends o
fellow pupils, were the various mean
of escape shown, and the necessity o
instant decision enforced, many a valu
able life Ito say nothing of property
would be saved. So intelligent com
munity as ours ought not, in this ad
vanced period of thought, to be 81
easily overwhelmed by calamity, wher
one woman's prompt and resolute aiC
would stop the stream at its fountain
head. If it is replied, as it will be
that some persons are born without thi:
gift; my answer is that Peter the Grea
was born without the capacity to endure
the sea, Frederic Second with a perfec
terror at battle, Paley with indispositior
to rise early, Judge Story with disgust
at law books, Washington with impetu
Gus passion-yet all conquered theil
natural weakness, and so can we if We
feel the necessity.
From various quarters facts have
come to me of every sort, illustrating
in women and children even. the power
OF overcoming panic and turning appar.
ent disaster into an occasion OF really
sublime virtue.
Instances there are, as We all know,
of mothers rushing in frantic fear from
a burning dwelling, then remembering
the dear baby they left asleep in its
little crib, and flying back through the
open passage, to perish vainly in q
whirl of mad flames. At the first alarm
it would have been easy enough to have
seized the child and secured its safety
with her own, because the air currents
were then cut off; after her own mad
hand had given the fire free passage
through the house, her own sacrifice
came too late to be OF any service.
Another mother I knew in this State,
awakened from profound sleep by the
fierce light in her room, forbidding her
husband from opening door or window
till she had made string of sheets,
and let her child down to the ground
then she followed herself, without any
serious injury from the stified flames,
and not even very severe fright, for
she mad taught herself self-control, and
SO she was always ready to use the best
means and all the means God and Nature
had put in her hands.
The custom used to be universal in
Ireland, of storing powder in the garret
of every grand country house. The
great-grandmother of the famous Maria
had sent stupid servant
girl to procure something in the garret,
when the maid came back and was
asked for her candle, which she had
carried without any candle-stick, she
''it was sticking in the cask
of black dirt up there. Not a moment
was to be lost. Mrs. Edgeworth flew
dashed the candle upon the
floor, and fell herself, overcome by ner-
vous excitement. She had saved the
house and all within its walls.
That capital old story-book, Sandford
and Merton, tells a story founded on
fact, of a party of girls pursued by a
wild bull in an open field. The eldest
lassie turned full on the mad beast, and
faced him. Mr.. Bull paused moment
in surprise. Then he renewed his sd
vance, and the noble girl made the
best retreat she could, facing him still,
and cheering her little companion to
hurry away. Her calmness seems to
have been respected by the great beast,
for he only drove her steadily out of his
domain, giving al her party and herself
time to leap the fence without harm.
A far better story 1 remember of an
English family taking tea in the garden
back of their bungalow, one sultry eve,
in upper India. Suddenly grand
Bengal tiger made one of the company.
The gentlemen, even an army officer,
seemed paralyzed with fear. One
woman alone was master of the occasion.
She sprung open large sun-umbrella
right in the face of the beast, who
so unusual a reception by leap
ing over the green hedge and making
for the tlicket, where he had been hid
ing. Would not this same genius at
means have made this lady
perfectly invaluable in shipwreck, in
midnight confiagration, in burglars
attack, in epidemic disease, in the field
hospital of an army, in the panic of a
assembly, in railroad collision,
in thousands of lesser disasters always
aggravated by lack of self-control?
When only thirteen, Sir Ashley Cooper
showed this rare gift. A little playmate
had been crushed by a cart-wheel. He
was bleeding to death. There was not
half time enough to get a surgeon.
Ashley brought out his silk handkerchief
tied it about the wound-stopped the
effectually, till the surgeon
could take the child in charge. whom
Ashley had really saved. And this event
was the principal one to determine that
choice of his profession, which made
him such a signal blessing to mankind.
The name of Eli Breem ought to have
some permanent record. A railroad
bridge had Just been destroyed by fire.
An express train was approaching. Eli
was determined to hazard his life to
save others. He ran to meet the ad-
yancing engine, spread his little arms
as widely as possible, and succeeded in
gaining the engineers attention-who
stopped the train Just in time to prevent
another disaster like that at Norwalk.
The best wine I have kept to the last
Manning, West India merchant, was
sitting on log on the shore of Jamaica,
while his companions were bathing.
Suddenly he saw a shark making full
upon them. Had he cried 'shark, " one
or both would have been overcome by
fear. Fellows, look here" he cried,
"you swim miserably. Here is the best
repeater in all Jamaica for the one that
comes in first. Now do your best" So he
kept cheering and stimulating, now one,
now the other. When he saw Farnum
his stroke, he reproached him
for giving up so easily, when he was
sure to win if he only pursued. At last
he rushed into the waves himself, his
red handkerchief streaming from the
end of stick, to divert the man eater.
When Farnum was safe upon the sand,
and was told his peril, he fell flat as a
log, proving how helpless he would
have been out st sea.