Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-08-09
FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH.

Nothing is more curious than the tact that
dying as one of crowd seems to be more
terrible to man than simply dying his own
individual death. Unquestionably there
seems to be no kind of death more dreaded
by men than death either from sudden Ca
tastrophies- that of the Ring Theatre
at Vienna and that on the Clyole, for in
stance-or from pestilence. No doubt it is
perfectly true that death cannot be shared
in the same sense in which peril or pleas
ure can be shared; you cannot, in all proba-
bility, be conscious of the strength of COM
panionship after life begins to flicker low,
nor are there above one or two people I'M the
world with whom most men would cOvet
the sense of companionship in such mo-
ment as that of death. Still it is somewhat
curious that death on Il grand scale always
seems to be more terrible, even to the sepa-
rate individuals, than the ordinary death by
units. Of course, terror is very catching,
and, therefore, the terror of a crowd always
enhances the terror of the Individual. But
though that explains the supreme agony OF
Il sinking ship or burning theatre, it does
not in the least explain the additional dread
of death which plague seems to inspire in
individuals, for between the inhabitants Of
a plague-stricEen city there is always very
much less active sympathy tlan there was
before the peStilence appeared, and 1t IS
rather through the growth of mutual repul-
sion than through the heightening of COM
mon sympathy that the influence of pesti-
ence is chiefly felt.
Perhaps it will be said that men do not
fear death the more on account OF the num-
Der dying around them, but only that that
number makes evident the greatness of the
risk. But that can hardly be the eXplana-
ton of the matter, otherwise we might eX-
pect much deeper terror in every man to
whom the doctors have frankly acknoWl-
edged that death is imminent, than we ought
to find in healthy inhabitant of a plague
stricken city, whose chance of death isprob-
ably much less than one in two.
As matter Of fact, very few patients
stricken with ordinary disease, who are
told that death is inevitable, show any
panic at all, while the perfectly healthy
man, surrounded by pesti[ence, is too often
consumed with terror which renders
him absolutely unfit for the discharge OF
his duties. 1t seems certain that the sell
fish terror inspired by the sight OF dying
crowds does unnerve men in manner IN
which a sentence Of death passed upon
themselves would not unnerve them at all.
We wonder why this is, and suppose the
reason to be that it is only great risk IN
combination with the great chance OF es-
cape that unnerves a man whom the pros
pect of certain death would not unnerve at
all. is the eager passion with which all
the mind rushes into the alternative of pro-
longed life that really unmans nature
which would be steady enough in facing
certain death. Mingle a great fear with a
vivid ray of hope and you will turn head
which could hold it's own against inevitable
fate. The tumultuous element in the case
of plague is, we believe, the selfish desire
to escape rather than the actual prospect OF
death. The panic felt is really the panic of
tempestuous hope rather than the panic OF
fear. Extinguish the hope and the panic
will often cease as completely as if you had
eXtinguished the fear itself.-London Spec
tutor.