The Sunday herald., 1881-03-06

Courage, undoubtedly, implies alacrity.
aud pleasure in facing peril from which many
shrink. spirit that rises to the encounter with dam
ger but whether or not courage properly implies a
right aud sufficient justification for such an encounter
Is another question. If II does, then We should say
that women are often NOR" courageous thhh men,
since the cNstCnCc of sufficient motive FOR cncoum-
tr,lng peril makes vast deal more difference %" the
whole, To their nerve than II makes To the nerve oi
men. There Is hardly mother who VIII not en-
counter rain and shame and peril with rmcr heart
tu save her child than even brave man would show
for the saiuo end. But then compare the two In mo-
ncnts OF peril when there Is no such noble motive to
string the of either, and the chances are that
the man will be the brayer of the twO--no perhaps
that his heart is the budcr, but that his mind passes
nnch less easily into the collapse which fear brings,
and is less dependent ON exalted emotion for the re-
sstencc II oppoSelto anything ike moral paralysis II
Miss Cubbc is right, aud courage Implies the cNis-
tcnce Of some motive of absolute obligation on behalf
uf which peril is TO be faced then women, SO FAR as
they really enter into such motives are, we
believe, bravcr than men, because they live
more s,ngly and heartily in the purer emotions
TO which they surrender themselves. If, on
the contrary, courage is TO cover all the cases
Of sepOssession and cooncss nperil-whether there
is on Is not high and dsinteested motive for con-
fronting the pcril-thcn men are more courageous,
for their temperament Is more combatye; there is
more in 1t which rises TO an emergency only because
there is emergency to rise to: more of immediate
reaction against anything that hasan aggressive look
than there Is In women. We should say that the
minds of women do not rebel as instinCtvely against
mere collapse rs do the minds of men. Where there
Is any profound affection which stcels them against
such collapse, they are more wholly impervious to
VI than men. But where there Is such antidOte To
collapse, the collapse of horror sets in much more
easily In their minds than II does In the sturdier and
less mobile nature OF the male sex. Men are less
prone to he unncrved by their fears than women.
Women are more prone to be nerved by their aiiec-
ons to great action than men. But 1t Is not only by
their affections that women made notably cour-
ageous. often they are made so by very inferior
interests especially hy the intense conservatism
of their proprietary instincts. We believe
that women much oitcncr-oftcncr, at least,
in. proportion 10 the nced-risk their lives In de-
fence of their property than men. Women wh'
would faint away in the face of shipwreck, or even
at the approach of angry bull, Will constantly T.
alone about house at night when they belieN
burglars to bo attempting the house, without am
panic Al all. This Is, no doubt, in part because the
realize less clearly the brutality OF the sort of mel
who rob houses than men do, aud arc, in fact
rendered fearless by their comparative ignorance o
the world. SO, likewise, men are often cNccedingl
fearless AT sea- in danger from railway catasrophes
till their nerves have once received serious shoe
from either cause after which they become as abl
to collapse of nerve as woman. Charles Dickens
who behaved like hero In the terrible SOutheaster
railway accident acknowledged that his nerve re
Ceived such shock In II that he could not afterwar
drive In an ordinary hansOm-Cab withou, spaSns {
extreme terror The comparative fearlessncSs cithC
of unimaginatiyo natures or OF complete ignofanC
has hardly the right 10 the name of courage. II
only insenslhiliy to particular class OF raray2ln
fears. -SptrtutUv.