Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-02-05

line Spectator
Courage, undoubtedly implies alacrity and
even pleasure, In facing pert from which many
shrink, a spirit that rises to the encounter with
danger; but whether or not courage properly
implies right and sufficient justification for
such an encounter is another question. II 1t
does then we should say that women are often
more courageous than men since the existence
of a sufficient motive for encountertng peril
makes vast deal more difference on the
whole, 20 their nerve than Ii makes to the
nerve OF men. There is hardly mother who
viii not encounter pain and shame and peril
with tTmer heart TO save her child than even
a brave man would show for the same end.
But then compare the two In moments OF peril
when there Is no such noble motive to string
the nerve Of either, and the chances are thai
the man will be the Drawer OF the two-not per.
haps, that his heart Is the holder, but that his
mind passes much less easily mo the
collapse which fear brings, and is less
dependent On an exalted emotion for
The resistance IL opposes to anything
like moral paralysis Ii Miss CObbe is right,
and courage implies the existence of some mo-
tive OF absolute obligation on behalf OF which
peril is 10 be faced, then women, so far as they
really enter into such motives. are, We believe,
Drawer than men, because they live more Singly
ard heartily In the purer emotions TO when
they surrender themselves. IL, on the con-
trary, courage Is 70 cover all the cases OF self
possession and GOODNESS In peril-whether there
Is or Is not high and disinterested motive for
confronting the pertl-then men are the more
courageous, for their temperament is more
combative; there is more In IL which rises to an
emergency only because there Is an emergency
10 Use 10; more OF Immediate reaction against
anything that has an aggressive look, than
there Is In women. We should say that the
minds OF women do not rebel as instinctively
a. aiDSt mere collapse as do the minds OF men
Where there is any profound affection which
Steels them against such a collapse, they are
more wholly imperviOus 10 1t than men. But
where there IS no such antidote to collapse, the
collapse OF horror sets In much more easily In
their mlkdS than IL does in the sturdier and
less mobile natures OF the male sex. Men are
women. Women are more prone to be nerved
by their affections TO great actions than men.
But IT Is not only by their affections that
women are made notably courageous. Oten
they are made so by very inferior interests,
especially by the intense conservatism OF their
proprietary instincts. We believe that women
much oftener,-oftener, at least. in proportion
10 the need disk their lives In defense OF their
property, than men. Women who would faint
away IN the face OF shipwreck, or even at the
approach OF an angry bull, will constantly 90
aione aoout mouse at night when they believe
oul lars 70 Oe attempting the house. without
SaS pahtS at al This is, no doubt, in part
OF cause tney realize less Clearly the brutality of
the sort OF men who rob houses rban man do
and are, In fact, rendered fearless nv their cono
paratNe ignorance OF the world So UEawiaa
men are ol1rh exeeedingly fearless at sea, or In
dapgef from railway catastrophes tiIi' tha,r
nerves have once received sertous shn.,, t t,
either cause, after which they become as uabin
10 collapse OF nerve as a woman. ChsriaS nio
ems, who behaved Ike hero In the rerr,nlo
southeastern railway accident, acknowIade,od
that his nerve received such shock i'm II RI gu
ne could not afterward drive In an orcfnarv
mansom cab without spasms OF extreme terror
Ine comparative fearlessness either or untm.
aina, We natures or OF complete ignorance. has
n naluiy the right TO the name OF courage 1t is
alyzjng fears 'A'