Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-07-10
The Courage OF Women.

1t is common 10 think and not uncom-
mon to speak of women rs the
tlmid sex. and they are likely to afford |
men good deal of amusement and not
little gallant disesteem by reason of their
supposed timidily. Men like to think of
them as precious towards, and often say |
that fearlessness is masculine virtue |
which il would be unfortunate and unat-
traclive for woman to possess. They |
unquestionably enjoy her susceptibility to
fright. for it often yields them An opportu- |
nifty to act as her Protector at very small |
expense of spirit. They cannot be with |
her very long or very much without fnd-
ing occasion TO show their superiority of
nerve by presenting n bold front to stag.
gering drunkard. or by striking from her
garments n whrring insect that has
alighted thereon. The tmidest man
seems Drawer generally than the bravest
woman, so that he who is not whit |
hero may by contrast appear to be such !
In her presence-one of the manv causes, |
perhaps, of his fOndness Tor her society.
A woman is accustomed to think of her |
sell as timorous, just as a man is to think |
OF himself rs valiant. She has no shame
in her avowal of fear, and is rather in
clined than otherwise to exaggerale her
fear, imagining. from what men have told |
her, rss her feminineness and loveliness |
depend somewhat on its degree, or at least
on its exhibition. She is so easily and
constantly alarmed at trifles that she ex-
poets TO be beside herself when some great
danger threatens. And when it does
threaten, she is apt to be surprisingly
calm and selfcollected. Startled by u
beetle, frightened by COW, ready to
swoon at the sight of blood. she despises
death when it menaces those she loves,
and under its very window is as composed
as nend be. She seldom believes herself
free from fear even though she be the en-
bodiment of heroism, and refers to the |
scenes through which she has passed 50
nobly us shocking and terrible. Looking
back, her i'm 'gination is far more excited
by the retrospect than her mind was by
the experience, and she wonuers how she |
could have lived through il all. Indeed, |
her timidily is almost always before and
after the actual danger, which, confronted
face to face, is shorn of most of its powers |
to terrify. Her nerves and her imagina-
ton are so mnch more sensitive, sympa
thetic and active than mans that size is |
scared by anticipation of, and at dis
tance from peril, rather than by peril it.
sell.
With men it is generally different. His
nerves, sensbilitirs and imagination are
usually tame compared with hers. He is
stronger, better disciplined, more expe.
fenced; he has, from his very sex, far
less cause to fear; he is taught from his
earliest consciousness that faint-hearted-
ness of any kind is unmanly, dIscredilable,
even diSgraceful. He is educated to cour-
age, he believes that he possesses it, and
II he has any suspicion to the contrary, he
would never acknowledge it, for confes
sion of cowarice is confession of igno
miny. Nevertheless, in the presence of
imminent danger, at the APPROACH Of death
he not infrequently shames his pretensious
and his sex, and reveals sh :dlerng ig
norance of himself Neither his will nor
his pride will serve him; his nerves prove
weak on supreme trial, and he palp,bly
covers before calamity. lie falls far be
low woman. When she remains steady
and tranquil, he is unsettled and pusilan-
nous. such instances may be deenled
exec tional, though they are not uncom.
mon. 1t may be said that woman, rs II
rule, is more afraid of remote and possible
than of real and near danger, whi the
converse is true of man, rs continual ex-
amples bear witness.
! a lust distinction between the sexes
may prove that man is the Drawer; woman
he more courageous of the two. Courage
is the higher quality, since it is mental
and moral, instead Of physical, As bravery
| ic 10 h. RVnvorH, - ipliHnrapt IN,
danger through apathy or through temper
ament; courage sees and feels all the dam
ger, and may exaggerate it, yet conqu"rs
apprehension pr pairing and prepared by
II sort of spiritual exaltttion, and by wholly
determined purpose to meet the worst that
may come. The former is often an acci
dent of The blood; the latter is Il capacity
of the soul, the evidence of latent if not Of
cons picuuus heroism. Woman always
sees SO much mere peril than there actu-
ally is, that, if man should see what she
sees, he would rarely stand firm. If he
We're one quarter rs afraid us she is, his
intrepilty and achievement would be far
more seld m sung.
A distinguished trait of women in gem
rral is furttude, which is the better and
nobIer-y'a, the essential-part of cour
age. Man has comparatively slender
stock. He shrinks from and complains
bitterly of pain that they bear without II
murm u, with perfect resi- ignation, without
II thought of doing aught save their duty.
He is peevi>h, undignitied, unjust, well
nigh inlolerable during sickness which
they will bear with sweetness, even with
grace. Reverses of fortune. calamity,
atflction, anguish of body and of mind
they will sustain with equanimity, when a
,tithe of their suffering will drive him to
loud outcry, to vicious courses, or to sui
eide. They will Shiver and shrek wher
the first wave breaks over the vessel, and
; 90 down with her in Il hell of waters 81
> lent, statue-like and serene. They will
sturtle the night at II cry of fire. and per
ish in the flames like an Indian bound tc
the stake. They will scream at the prick
: of II needle, and walk placidly into M
open grave. Not SO bold rs man TO dc
wrong, they are more valient to do right
The timid sex In some things, they are the
heroic or heroinic sex in others, and these
usually the greater things. In many o
the gravest trials of life they are dauntess
and distinguished, when man. their boast
ed superior, is craven and ahject-Htr
pcrS' Baar.