Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-15
pEArHs PROM FRIGHr.
Instances, Ancient and Modern, Col
lated from Authentic History.

The distinction between fright and

London Globe.
The distinction between fright and fear
ought always to be borne in mind. Fear
can be mastered by an effort; fright has
come and gone before the brain has had
time to come to the conclusion that an eff
fort is possible. There is no fear so strong
in human beings as the fear of death, and
yet, ''there is no passion in the mind of
man." says Bacon truly enough, $50 weak
but 1t mates and masters the fear of death.
Revenge triumphs over death love sights
it; honor aspireth TO it.; grief flyeth to it;
fear preOccupyeth it." Pity, which is
the ''tenderest of passions" led many to
kill themselves from compassion for
Otho's suicide. Even t9dium vitae, mere
utter WEAKNESS of doing the same thing
over and over again, will lead a man to
defy his Unborn fear of death. But what
passion can guard against frightS
A Hebrew, according to Lodovicus
Wives, once crossed a narrow plank over
a torrent, in the dark, and, visiting the
place next day, saw the extremity of his
last nights risk and died of-what? Not
of fear, obviously, because there was
nothing to be afraid of, but possibly Of
fright. So, again, persons have been
known who always tainted at the scent of
certain flowers, notably that of the may
blossom, but it would be ridiculous to
accuse them of being afraid of hawthorn.
SUPERINTENDENT Francis of the Indian
| medical service tells Of a drummer who
was suddenly aroused from his sleep by
something crawling over his naked legs.
He imagined it was a cobra, and his
friends collected by the cutlery thought
so too, and he was treated accordingly.
lamentations, such as are customary with
the natives on these occasions, were re-
sorted to, and the poor fellow was fiagel-
lated with twisted clothes on the arms
and legs in view partly to arouse him, but
principally to drive out the evil influence
Spirit that for the time being had taken
| possession Of him. With the first dawn
of light the cause of the fright was dis
! covered in the shape of a harmless lizard,
which was lying crushed and half killed
! by the side of the poor drummer, but it
was too late. From the moment when he
! believed a poisonous snake had bitten him
| he passed into an increasing collapse I'M
| til he died. The drummer was not a
| strong lad, and the shock was too much
| for him.
The most remarkable death from the
accident of fright was that of the Dutch
| painter, Penteman, in the seventeenth
! century,. He was at work on a picture
! in which were represented several death
| heads, grinning skeletons and other OBJ
| jects calculated to inspire the beholder
with a contempt for the vanities and
| fOllies of the day. In order to do his work
better he went into an anatomical room,
| and used it as a studio. One sultry day,
| as he was drawing these melancholy
| relics of mortality by which he was sur
rounded, he fell off into a quiet sleep,
| from which ne was suddenly aroused.
| Imagine his horror at behOlding the skulls
| and bones dancing around the room like
mad, and the skeletons which hung from
! the ceiling dashing themselves together.
| Panic-stricken, he rushed from the room.
and threw himself headlOng from a
| window on to the pavement below. He
| sufficiently recovered to learn that the
! cause of his fear was a slight earthquake.
! but his nervous system had received so
| severe a shock that he died in a few days.
Frederick |. of Prussia was killed by an
accident of fear. He was one day Sleep
| ing in an armchair, when his wife, Louisa
| of Mecklenburg, who had for some time
! been hOpelessly insane, escaped from her
keepers and made her way to the kings
! private apartments. Breaking through
/ glass door she dabbed herself in blood
and in a rage of delirium cast herself
| upon the king. The latter, who was not
aware of the hOpelessness of her lunacy,
was so Mortified at the appearance of
| woman, clad only in linen and covered
with blood, that he imagined, with a SUI
| perstition characteristic Of the age, that it
was the white lady, whose ghost, accord
| ing to time-hOn0red tradition, invariably
| appeared when death was around the
. house of Bradenburg. He was seized with
a fever and died in six weeks.
More ridiculous was the death of the
| French Marshal, De Montrevel, ''whose
whole SOUL" says st. Simon, "was but
ambition and lucre, without ever having
| been able to distinguish his right hand
! from his left, but cOncealing his universal
! ignorance with an audacity which favor,
fashion and birth protected" He was
very superstitiOus man, and one day
salt-cellar was upset at a public dinner in
his lap, and so frightened was he that
he arose and announced that he was a
dead man. He reached home and died in
few days, in ZIG, literally scared to
| death by the absurd casualty of a salt
cellars turning over.