The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-10-14
BRAVERY OF WOMEN.
BY Lady Cook. nee Tennessee c Ctatiin

1t is said by an excellent Divine,
THAT though many discoveries have
been made i'll the world OF Selt-lOYe,
there is yet abundance of terra incog-
nita left behind. 1t has pleased men
to arrOgate TO themselves nearly the
whole of human courage and to re
gard women as very timid and COW
ardlV creatures when compared with
themselves. Now we do not deny
! that some women occasionally have
| little afrectatiOns which give colour
/ to this opinion. These are scared at
meeting harmless cow or oxen, as
| though they were ferOcious bulls,
They lump in terror on a chair at the
sight of a mouse. All these, however
are errors OF education, just as boys
/ are taught from the cradle to deSplSe
girls for their supposed want OF bra
yerY, and grow to manhood without
seeing their mistake Yet Vaudeville
! in his Search into the Nature OF So
| cietv," AYERS that Man, as he is a fear
! full animal, naturally not rapaciOus,
/ loves Peace and Quiet, and he would
never fight, if nobody offended him,
! and he could have what he fights for
without it." This may be true OF
man as a savage. But civilization
| gives so much skill and diSsipates so
many errors and terrors, that men
! have learnt to be quarrelsome, coura-
| geOus, and self-reliant. 1t would be
natural to suppose the mothers and
| sisters would be brave also. We look
for cognate qualities in both sexes of
other animals, and are not disappOint-
ed. Why should mankind be an eN-
ception? Why should it be imagined
/ that men have all the courage and
women monopoly of timidity? Sim
plv because OF mems stupendOus self
! conceit. The majority have never
given the subject rational thought.
. They have excluded women from their
own favorite fields for the display of
bravery, and then pride themselves
upon their vast superiority. But,
/ whenever women have had equal OPP
portunities, they have proved them
selves no despicable competitors with
men in physical courage, and far
ahead of them is moral fearlessness.
At a time like the present, when
public attention is largely drawn to a
comparative view of the qualities of
both sexes, it may be profitable to
draw attention to the bravery OF
women. We do not desire to under
value the conspicuous Valour OF men.
On the contrary, we are proud TO rec
ognize it to the full. We only wish to
point out that women are capable OF
the same great quality to a profitable
degree, and that, therefore, it should
be encouraged in them as well as III
men. If the men refuse, let women
eXhort each other.
A modern historian says, Moral
and rational faculties may alike be
dormant, and they will certainly be
so if men are wholly immersed in the
qualification of their senses. Man Is
like a plant, which requires a favor
able soil for the full expansion of its
innate powers" If men had beer
: shut, as women have, from the eXer
else of their physical faculties, is il
certain they would have developed
excess of physical powers?
Notwithstanding her social disad
) vantages in this respect, woman ha'
made her mark in the annals of bra
very. History affords numerous eX
amples of great herOines, many o
! them. too, at a time when her genera
2 position was that of Il slave, but WI
can only note a few. Leaena of Attica
bore the severest torture without ;
word. Telesilla, the poetess, mad
, the Argolic women fearless of death
t and discomforted the Spartans. Thee
, dore saved the Eastern Empire. Al
- temsisia drank the ashes of her cor
sort Camilla, Queen of the Volscians
/ was slain fighting at the head of he
e troops. Boadicea encountered tn
q veterans of Rome. The Maid of Oh
y, leans drove the English from France
> ARIA stabbed herself to encourage he
l. husband to die. See, it does nc
n hurt, dear Paetus,n she said. Th
n tales of martyrdom are fertile {
heroic women. Young maidens mt
e the most horrible deaths with placi
/ contempt, if not with vehement jo,
/ No tiendish tortures that devils coul