The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-16

very like Grants account of himself-"and if
you were half as much afraid you would run
away" Courage is not insensblty to danger,
like the brutal fearlessness and ferocity of the
''Tasmanian devil'-the most utterly fearless
thing on earth-but the force of will to meet
danger in the discharge of duty Some men
may be so constituted as to have no perception
or realizing sense of the peril of battle. Others
may be so excited by the uproar, the fury of
the conflict, the hope of distinction, that
they lose all sense of danger as Malay drunk
on bhang who runs amok" or an Indian sing
ing his death song at the stake These are no
samples of manhood or manly courage. When
they are not brutal insensibility they are morbid
excitement. We may easily believe of a man
like Grant or Nelson, or a score Of other noted
men, that their intense devotion to duty. their
anxiety to succeed their interest in some special
point of action, overpowers their sense of danger
and they can stand amid the crash and roar of
battle. the confusion of smoke, the yells and
groans and whistling balls and think only of the
object they have in view; but the concentration
that can do so marks the great man.
Smaller characters must show the same
calmness under greater insensibility. Some
thing is due, too to familiarity with special
dangers. The sailor is unmoved in the fury of
storm that appals soldier, who would care
little for the familiar rush and crash of cannon
shot or the bowling of shells. Frederick the
Great like a coward from his first battle, but
he soon learned to face all peril as coolly as if he
had been weaned on milk and gunpowder. The
ordinary veteran is the product of familiarity
with the battle, not of special endowment to
face danger physical courage" said Governor
Morton, once. lis cheap quality. Most mon
are more afraid Of the shame of showing cow
ardice than of the chance shots of battle, and
few days of fighting dispe all their terrors.'
The courage described in the paragraph we have
quoted, is that of the man formed to command
rather than that of the soldier, and accurately
enough applies to our dead hero, though its
description is wrongly ascribed to him.
THOREAU was one Of the high priests of tran
scendentalism, who by his residence there made
Concord the classic spot it is 1t is generally
understood that the philosophers who make
annual pilgrimages to the sacred precincts re-
gard the old masters" of their favorite doctrines
as oracles, and accept their utterarces on all
subjects as law and gospel What is called
read to the Concord school the other day, being
then given to the world for the first time Here
is the gem:
You wander indefinitely in beaded coat
wet to the skin of your legs sit on mossclad |
rocks and stumps. and hear the lispine of mgra- |
tory sparrows amid the scrub-oaks. Sit long at
time. STILL and have your thoughts rain
WElch IS as serene as fair weather, suggesting |
falrer weather than was ever seen. You could |
hug the clOudS that 6a6la faal fha
tellcltatlng influence of the rain in your mind |
The part of you that is the wettest is fullest of
llfe like the lichens. You discover evidence of
immortality not known to divnes You cease
TO die. You derive some buds and sprouts of
llte Every step in the old rye field is virgin
soil. And then the rain comes thicker and faster
than before, thawing the remaining frost in the
ground, OBTAINING the migrating bird, and you
turn your back to it full of serene. contented
thoughts, soothed by the steady dropping on the
wlthered leaves, more at home for being abroad |
more comfortable for being wet, sinking at each |
step deep into the thawing EARTH gladly break |
ing through the gray, rotting ice The dullest |
sounds seem sweetly moduated by the air. |
You leave your tracks in the fields Of spring rye
Seeing the fox-colored sparrows along the wood
sides, you cannot go home yet You sit still in
the rain, you glide along the distant woodside
full of joy and expectation, seeing nothing but
beauty, hearing nothing but music, as free as
the fox colored sparrow"
If the philosophers accept this as Truth-with
capital T-as they must, to be consistent they
must live up to it, Unless they are willing to 60
out in the rain, to roost stumps and have their
own thoughts, their transcendentalism is open to
the suspicion of being a poor article, if not of
false brand altogether. If they seen tramp
ing about in the mud and hugging the clods the
ne!shbors will, to be sure, have their own
thoughts of a very different sort, but
what's the odds so long as the aspiring
soul sees nothing but beauty. hears nothing
but beauty, and the body feels most alive
where it is wettest? 1t has been said by
scoffers that your true philosopher does not
understand the proprety of coming in when it
rains, but If he can stay out in the wet and feel
as Thoreau did, there seems no good reason why
he should come in and several why he should be
permitted to remain out Henceforth he can
wander in all weathers without interference if
he will only label himself us disciple of the
hermit of Walden Pond before starting
THE society ladies Of Youngstown, O., are
so agitated and enraged that it is unsafe for any
clergyman or physician, save those who stand
firm in the consciousness Of innocence and rec
tituda, to approach them Last Sunday, Rev
Snodgrass. pastor of one of the leading churches,
made the startling statement that physician
had told him he had several patients among
fashionable ladies whom he had to treat yearly
for deirium tremens. This shocking SANDER
has, in the language of the street, broken the
society women all up" and they are now en-
gagged in ferreting out the author They are
unanimous in declaring that the story is base
falsehood, but in the intervals between their in.
dgnant protestations they each keep sharp
eye out in the hope of discovering who the
dreadfully dissipated women are anyway.
Whatever investigation may prove, there can be
little doubt that the Rev. Snodgrass will wish
he had never said it.