, 1885-06-04
i FeAs Of DEATH.


lSt Louis G-ohe-DcmocTaf
None but the living really fear death.
Those who are dying, consciously Ly-
ing. welcome its approach. ! remem
Der one among many death scene
have witnessed: A Young maiden, IN
the very bloom and blush Of woman
hood. Full of life and hope one day.
the next day stricken. Anxious and
watchful, her friends sought by all hui
man means 10 avert the threatened
blow. cath was TO be fought of at all
cost, all sacrifice, if the living could
have it 30 But the dying girl, who but
but a day before had been the life and
wit of a loving circle, turned her face
impatiently to the wall, saying: Let
me die in peace"
Turn from such a scene to the couch
of the veteran warrior, who, but a few
weeks AGO. believed death 10 be i'm.
minent. He, the hero Of one of the
greatest wars in history, who had o
battles without number, and. while ex-
exhibiting the grandest, calmest cour-
age in lace of danger, had never failed
in prudent %precaution for his life and
the lives Of the myriads under his com
mand, when he believed death imminent
he spoke words very like those used by
the young girl. 1t is only the living,
not the dying, that fear death.
There is a story current, applied 70
many different circumstances, from the
battles of the rebellion back to Water
loo, of a couple of young officers who
had been selected BY the commander to
carry a message to a distant part of the
field. The danger of the mission was SO
great that two men were sent on the ex-
petition that one might possibly escape
the flying bullets. Their chargers had
hardly taken a dozen strides when one.
a ruddy-faced, stalwart fellow, noticed
that his companion was CHASTITY white.
the beads of perspiration rolling down
his forehead and his bride hand shak-
ing with terror. why, you're afraid,
cried he of the rudy countenance with
an air of contempt. Il know | am"
was the answer ''and If you were half
as much afraid as /, you would not go
at all" That story, true or false as 10
the event, contains the whole philosophy
of heroic deeds, and l never think of II
but see again a cheap chrome hat
used to be common in our picture-shop
windows.
This showed a scene supposed 10 have
occurred during the war for independ-
ence. Three figures coming out OF the
smoke of musketry--a drummer boy, a
me- of middle age, and n gray haired
soldier-all bare headed and with the
breeze of battle shaking their locks, but
with such a set look upon their facesl
Terror and sci f-command, the all-con-
quering force of heroic will subduing
physical feal, and the stern determine
ton to die rather than yield. An old
soldier, who had achieved wide renown
for his courage in many n field, from
shiloh to Atlanta, was looking at the
picture one day. said he: There's
the sight I've often seen; the peculiar
expression that one only sees on the
faces of brave men in desperate fight.
Terror and determination; fear con
1uered by courage"
Napier, the soldier Sir Charles, who
conquered Scindh for the British against
his own sense of right, and who sent
home to London the queer dispatch,
"Peccavimus- we have sinned, tells OF
a splendid incident in his History Of
the P~eninsular War" He was with the
army of Sir John Moore on its retreat
from Corunna. On the march, holly
pursued by the French, the British
crossed a river, and the rear-guard
planted a mine under the bridge by
NnicH tno army Htu pdsbeu, Wlln inc
purpose of blowing II mp and thus de-
laying the pursuit. When the English
had gone some distance it was noticed
that the mine did not explode. Some
thing was wrong, and a halt Of the rear
guard was called. The French we're al
ready In sight on the other side of the
river.
A hurried consultation was being
held, when, TO quote Napier's language,
AZ nearly as l can remember it, "A
sergeant, whose name, to the loss of
humanity, has not been preserved, ran
out OF the lines 10 the bridge, re-lit the
match, and bending his noble head over
it, blew it until the explosion sent him
from a world he was too brave to live
IN" Was that man afraid of DEATH
OF course he was; no such hero ever
lived that was not. But he died, never
theless, and died deliberately that others
might live. No sham love Of glory was
ais. The little world of his comrades
might know him and honor his memory;
but, too obscure even to hope that his
name would be misspelt in a dispatch,
ne deliberately died for duty-simply for
1uty and for nothing more. And such
Incidents might be recounted with num-
berless variations were the rank and
lie of the armies Of the world writer's.