The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1889-12-14
CONCERNING COURAGE.
There are Occasions Daily Which Requir
All Its Strength,

AL 1CS SCrenSCHs
True courage is that quality of mind
Which enables one to encounter danger
and difficulties with firmness, or with
out fear or depression. 1t withstands
the shock of battle without a quivering
OF the nerves, the trembling of the limbs
or the whitening of the lips. It will
march up to the cannon's mouth, or to
line of cleaning bayonets, with no fall
terlng OF the step or sinking of the
pulse. 1t is not Indifference to danger,
but resolute valor that faces it without
shrinking. If it is not constitutional, it
can not be acquired by frequent expos
ure to peril. A man may become care
less in the presence Of danger to life or
limb by long familiarity with it. as work.
men in powder mill, or in mine often
choked with fire-damp, come at last to
make light of the ever present menace,
and never give thought to it. But such
recklessness may have in it none of the
elements of true courage. This quality
has many forms, and these are distin-
guished by different appellations. Some
times it is passive courage which en-
counters danger and endures pain and
hardship with steadfast and unbroken
spirit, and we call it fortitude. If it
courts danger with high and cheer
full resolution, we name it gallantry. If
1T meets danger hand to hand in single
combat with impetuous onset it is chris
tened bravery. It is valor on the field
OF battle. 1t is intrepidity when no sud-
den alarm or unexpected assault can
shake it's firmness, and it is aroused to
enthusiasm with each new peril. But
in whatever form of action, it is always
that firmness of spirit and swell of soul
which meets danger without fear. It is
often simulated, but of all the hypocriti-
cal pretenses this is the most easily ex-
posed. The test betrays at once it's unreal
character, and the timid nature hiding in
lions skin is soon unmasked. 1t is said
that if the numbers were counted there
are more of the race who have physical
courage and endurance than possess
moral courage to be true to their convic-
tions. It is customary to ridicule the
twelfth obstinate man who will not agree
on verdict with the eleven of his fellow
jurymen, but a little more backbone of
this sort is wanted in our world We would
not substitute a stubborn idiosyncrasy
for attachment to high moral principle,
but the tendency to ''follow multitude
to do evil" which was so marked in the
days of the great Lawgiver that special
statute was directed against it, is alto
gether too common in our day, and when
the ''many wrest Judgment" the pro-
test of those who see the wrong is alto
gether too feeble. 1t requires more
moral courage for boy to kneel at his
bedside and say his evening prayers in
the presence of scofing room-mates than
to face battery. A man becomes rich
in money by means that the law can not
punish, but which pure morality can not
approve. Only here and there is there
Mordecai that will not bow down as
he goes sweeping by to his palace feasts.
True heroism need not reserve it's dis
plays until the next conflict of arms, for
there are occasions daily which require
all it's strength. There are so many
who are ever more longing for some
field like the "Cloth of Gold," where
they may win the applause of admiring
crowds by feats of chivalry. The feudal
days will not return, but there are hourly
encounters with evil passions and with
obstacles to holy living that task the
courage to the utmost, and call for more
firmness of spirit and resolute persist
ence than were hidden under the armor
of any old-time knights. Many a woman,
who would faint, perhaps, at the sight
of flowing blood, has faced the shock of
life's battle in the struggle for bread, or
the effort to reform profigate husband,
or to train to better things maynard
child, with as much real bravery as was
ever shown in the conflict of clashing
arms. The shouts of trumpets, the
waving palms, the white robes to which
so many look forward, are not given
alone or chiefly to those who have stood
mistaken amid the roar of cannon and
the crossing of swords, but to those who
have passed through the tribulations of
this present time without compromising
with evil. ''He that overcometh" is the
champion received with loud acclaim on
the other side of the dark river which
all must cross; but the victory may be
gained by struggle so silent and in a
sphere so obscure that none of the an
lals of earth may chronicle the hero's
name. The evil is within as we'll as
without, and the irresolute must wear
the badge of defeat. The crown is for
the conqueror, and they who will may
have such help in the struggle that they
shall win the prize.-N. Y. journal of
Commerce.
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