The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1892-04-28
RARELY COMBINED.

liza hIul OOulDl1NLUs
PHYSICAL AND MORAL COURAGE sEL-
DOM FOUND IN ONE PERSON.
Meaning of Physical Courage-Its Re-
wards and Demands-Loftier Motive OF
Moral Courage and the Injury That II
Often Brings Upon Its POssessor.
It is a rare thing to meet a person,
either man or woman, who combines in
one both physical and moral courage
Mental courage is a frequent thing-to
dare to have opinions, to dare to follow
out their consequences in ones mind
and its absence is always pitiable where
"the poor heart would fain deny, but
dare not" But moral courage is b far
rarer quality, and is as much higher
than physical courage as tho soul Is
higher than the body. Physical courage
is indeed the commonest Of the virtues
Most soldiers have it who 60 into bastfes
most mothers have Il as &hey spproach
the great gates Of maternity, the osn1d
has it who goes TO bed IN the darh; the
boy who challenges the bigger boy to
fight; the girl who drives he eattis
home.
It is true there Is something that passes
for physical courage which b not that
at all, and which, II II h NOT enactiy
moral courage either. Is . courage that
deserves a name of its owl-e disregard
of ones lower self, q pride Of ones 1ofs-
tier self, that is far nobler han any mere
fearlessness, which dog can share
and that is the experience of deadly
terror before any act, but the doing
it nevertheless, conceaffng the terror
and achieving the result There Is the
heroism in that which takes ono to the
stake.
Physical courage Is apt 10 demand ap-
plause, but moral courage leaves every
consideration but truth IN the back
ground, and is more likely 10 bring one
ostracism than admiration. With moral
courage one speaks ones mind, one goes
forward to ones conception Of duty, one
treads ones chosen way without the
thought, and 80 without tho fear, Of con-
sequences, or even II with tho fear. stih
treads it just the same.
One does not pause - xeosars The
possible effect upon ones SEN. One docs
and says what right and the moment re-
quire. One Is not mtimidated BY tho
frown, the brutal word, tho threat, the
blow, the probable loss Of prestige, the
force of any contrary opinion, public OF
private, the possible deprivation Of Office
or of position. One has what has long
been known as the courage Of ones con-
victions, and does what ono thinks b
right or best or even only expedient
without regard to fear or favor.
The moral courage that dares 10 con-
tradict the village bully dares no less to
tell a king that he is IN the wrong;
dares to arrest the wretch who, whip in
hand, abuses his beast-being more
beast than the other; dares, too, to
shield the culprit from the strong arm,
to interpose ones self between the VIC
tim and the oppressor, whether the VIC
tim be child in school or whole peo-
pie; dares always to resist tyranny. It
has been physical courage of course
that has fought the great battles Of the
world-battles, probably, that the world
could as we'll have done without had ar
bitration been known-but it is moral
courage that has instigated and carried
forward every reform, and done away
with every oppression that has already
vanished.
After all, moral courage does more
for its possessor than for any one else.
The brutes of the field have physical
courage, but the other belongs only
among the altitudes-lifts and expands
the soul that has it and that uses it, and
makes it, one dares to think, only lit
tie lower than the angels. They that
have it never know when they are beat
en-; in fact, they cannot be beaten. They
return to the attack with all the pristine
vigor of the first onset, with all the
force that first impelled them.
Women, with their feeble bodies and
insufficient means of protection Or Of as
sault, are VIGOROUSLY deficient N ami
NAL courage, that valiant courage and
undaunted spirit more than IN woman
commonly is SEEM" but they are Just as
VIGOROUSLY rich in the opposite direc-
ton, and possessed Of great moral oour-
age-that is, the women Of the nobler
sort. 1t is they that uphold the hands
of others, they that never falter In their
purpose, they that viii die for their
love or their belief-noe they alone, but
they in the greater numbee. And It Is
they that, by handing this trait down to
their sons, will lift the race constantly
to greater heights Of righteous will and
strength.-Harper's Bazaar.