Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-03

How They Always Have the Advantage Over
Nervous Men.

AHe NerNous nan or the Man OF Nerve The
play h almost forgotten. but We have still
among us both the kinds Of men delineated.
though In very unequal numbers. In Wall
street there are probably thousand nervous
men to one man Of nerve. but il is the man Of
nerve who gets ont Of Wall street the victor
and generally, wherever we find him. he is apt
to become master OF the situation. We may
say, perhaps, that the man Of nerve is related
TO the nervous crowd as the lion is to his prey
Some readers have doubtless had the pleasure
OF watching the exploits Of Mr.. Charles Parker,
otherwise called ''Steeple Charlie" who enjoys
q monopoly in the business OF painting and re-
pairing high steeples and towers have seen
him at work several times, and il is evident. il
you observe him with an opera glass, that he is
Just as much at home 200 feet in the air. with
nothing between him and destruction but a thin
cord, as he WIS eating buckwheat cakes for his
breakfast He prefers TO ascend his steeple
before sunrise, when no one but himself is
astir. and he adjusts his tackle without any
a cross heavier than himself 10 the ton of a
steepie He can do these things because he is
as cool and quiet in his nerves up there near
the clouds as another man would be while
decorating post feet high.
IL was SO with Blondin, who used to make.
COOK and eat an omelet on a tight rope 100 feet
above the ground, and who carried a man on
MS back on rope stretched across Niagara
river When he descended from his rope after
performing these feats his pulse was perfectly
natural. and the man had evidently done his
work with absolute ease. / have converted
with the man whom he carried across Niagara
He said that it was his knowledge of this fact
that gave him the confidence TO take that ex-
traordinary ride over the abyss.
when Blondin," said he, told me he was
N xl..b hal 4,
Tor two years, was also sure of it."
This quality, call il nerve or what Won will is
possessed by all men of great executive force.
Mr. Clews, the banker, in his well-knovn work
upon Wall street, gives an amusing illustration
OF this truth in describing one of Mr.. Jaw
Goulds Eeutenants. a man naturally of excit-
able and demonstratiye temperament
He has, says Mr.. Clews, 1.-THE composed
unexcitable manner of Gould 10 perfection and
is never known. no matter how great the provo
tone"
In the case Of the chief this manner indi-
Gates the manner Of the man and stamps him
as the man of nerve.
All the successful generals appear to have
Possessed this quality in an eminent degree.
Won Moltke, as is well known. is devoted whist
player. During the French war whenever cir
cumstance permitted il, this game was his
favorlte evening amusement. and it often hap
pened that kilograms would be handed to him of
the greatest Importance while he was playing.
The general would read them with tantalizinC
elaboration without the slightest change of
countenance lay them on the table with the
writing downward and play out the game with
perfect serenity. II was remarked at the time
that the arrival Of these kilograms was much
more disturbing to the nervous men PLAYING
with him than to the man Of nerve to whom
they were addressed.
Bonaparte occasionally gave away to explo-
slons OF anger, which, however, were often
1eiSned Tor the purpose of impressing and
But on the battlefield, as well as during the
critical hours preceding battle he was az cool
as Blondin, who resembled him in appearance
and he gained little in weight in the most ex-
citing years OF his life. In Italy, at "a lie was
still meager and gaunt. At Austerlitz, seven
years later, he was in good condition; and when
six years later he married Marie Louise. he was
rotund and verging toward the portly This
shows that while he fretted and frightened the
whole civilized world, and made life more diff
cult for every honest man in Christendom the
his ease.
singular case was that Of Gen. Grant. who
was one OF the small number of soldiers i'm the
late war who never swore. But this was not so
remarkable as the fact which he once men
toned in conversation, that he had never felt
the need of explosives. Most men. if a brick
bat falls upon their sensitive toe. relieve their
feelings by explosive words. but he never did
He seemed to be devoid of the nervous suscep-
lblilty that makes men use language ridicu-
lousy violent upon experiencing a sudden
shock Of pain. As one Of his aids remarked:
"den Grant not oaly never swore, but he never
wanted to-"
Wellington, on the contrary. was a profuse
user OF expletives and so was Nelson, but both
exhibited Blondinian GOODNESS at critical
moments. When the late Earl Russell was a
very young man lie visited Wellington's head
quarters in Spain and he sat next to him at
dinner in the evening. While the general and
his staff were at dinner the most active prepare
tons were going ON for retreat that very
night-a retreat involving the abandonment of
Madrid The young guest knew nothing of
this. wellington was particularly merry tell
ing comic stories of camp life and giving a
ludicrous description of his three iron guns,
called Thunder" Lightning" and Nelson"
which had been variously battered by the enc
mys fire.
After dinner" says Earl RUSSELL INV COM
panions and / were informed by Col. Ponsonby
that retreat was resolved upon for that night.
and We were advised to pack ourselves off as
quickly as we could. We lost no time in fol-
lowing that advice. and. for my part, found
very comfortable bed on a heap of chopped
straw some leagues from Burgos."
Wellington also had the faculty OF taking a
nap ON the very eve Of battle and even during
an action while he was waiting for the develop
ment OF an extensive maneuver.
The GOODNESS of some famous orators has
often been admired. Mr.. Gladstone once mem
toned fact about himself which goes far to-
ward explaining the retention of his wonderful
powers in his eighty-third year. He said that
the most exciting and protracted debate in
which he had ever taken part did not keep him
awake five minutes after his head touched the
pillow. We have all known speakers whose
IA become SO disordered by a short after
Z; 'ner speech that they cannot sleep for hours
ttterward. Probably Wendell Philips was not
A. cool before an audience as he always ap-
peared to be. For many years before his death |
he had premonitions of heart disease a malady
10 walch nervous men are peculiarly subject |
but which seldom afflicts the man Of nerve
Great masters of the art Of writing. as their
attest, perform their task with |
very little fret or strain. Some one described |
Sir Walter Scott sitting at a window writing a |
novel with singular composure, writing rapidly. |
but not hastily. The manuscript of Thackeray |
IS almost OF itself enough to prove the easy |
mastery which he possessed Of his art 1t flows |
On evenly page after page with scarcely an /
erasure, and there is no deterioration in the |
in the last pages. Dickens, on |
he contrary. toiled over his work. and made |
/ change In almost every line after he had |
written it.
Can this valuable quality be acquired2 Prob
IDLY not Some small decree of it NAV be at
ainable, but when it is possessed in an eminent
iegree, 1t appears to be q constitutional and
hereditary quality. Mr.. Cough. who addressed
n his lifetime about 900 audiences. used TO
ay that he never went upon platform without
! feeling OF trepidation, and have myself
heard Gel. b. +. Butler say that on rising to
he knees. Some Of the Oldest actors and the
most successful are not free from this strange
Nor can it be truly said thaScoolness of nerve