The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-06-07

v" HE other day q New York IRE
man saved two old women
from a burning building. 1t
was not an uxysual deed for
n New York fireman, bet IL was a
splendid act Of heroism, nevertheless
one OF those heroisms OF peace which
far surpass, In their moral qualities,
heroic deeds done In the heat Of battle,
and which stand on a par with the
best Of those acts Of sOldlerly courage
which win Victoria or Iron crosses.
Fireman Cummings and Fireman
McClair were the men who were told
that two old women wc:~ In the top
Of the burning house. II was there
that the fire was, and the flames were
so fierce and the smoke was so thick
that the firemen could not reach the
women from within the building. So
they went up TO the top floor OF the
adjoining house, and made their way
10 the windows Of the burning house
over tre-escapes. Cummings went in
and McClair remained outside. The
first woman was found unconscious on
the kitchen floor. Cummings handed
her out to Moclair. and as he did so she
revived long enough 10 beg him 10
save the other. and 10 tell him that
she was in the hall. AS soon as he
filled his lungs with fresh air, he
started back for the second. The
crowd outside waited in the silence Of
awe and dread and hope for several
minutes-sO long that dependency
gradually took possession OF IL. Then
Cummings came 10 the window again,
and handed out the other woman. He
had plunged back for her into flame
and smoke, and nearly succumbed-
or "caved in," as he expressed it-once
or twice himself, but he thought Of the
insensible woman, pulled himself to-
gether and saved her.
This is almost an ordinary feat for
n fireman. Not year passes when
scores of such deeds as Cummings
are not recorded in the newspapers.
Not year passes, either, when hun
dreds Of firemen and policemen do not
lose their lives Take it, year in and
year out, for long spaces of time. war
does not begin 10 offer the opportuni-
ties for heroic deeds that peace offers.
When we recall the hundreds of
thousands of trainmen, and the thou
sands Of locomotive engineers, the men
whose daily occupation is a call for
nerve and courage which very few sol
dicrs ever feel we can realize family,
rs we read accounts Of such deeds as
Cummings, that the heroes Of peace
outnumber in men and opportunity
those of war.
War its thousands slays. Peace its
ten thousands.
1t is the fashion to say that courage
Is common possession, and one kind
of courage Is. 1t Is that which holds
man steady or sends him forward,
as the need may be, in the shock of
arms. n score of influences set upon
him then-eXcitement, self-respect, the
feeling that a thousand eyes are on
him. But is the courage which in
spires man to go along a line of
windOw-sills, through binding smoke
and hot flame, 10 the rescue of hu-
man being, common? Is the policeman
common character who goes without
question through a dark building in
search of "A murderOus criminal. or
who, single-handed attacks a gang of
rutfians intent on his death, as a New
York policeman did not long ago? Is
the locomotive engineer an easy man
to tindE Ask railroad men what per
centage OF their employees possess the
morals essential TO the daily and
nightly runs of engineers? There are
tasks in a campaign. Sometimes even
on the field of battle, which require
this high and exceptional kind of
courage, and many, but not nearly all,
soldiers are equal TO this duty.
1here are few opportunities in peace
for mere brute courage. and most of
those come 10 the lawless rufiian. But
most of the opportunities of war are
necessarily productive of that kind of
person who was a knight-errant in the
Middle Ages; a bandit in the desert: a
brawler in our modern cities. But he
Is, nevertheless. the true hero TO many
a poet. as to the writer of the Arab
war-song:
Terrible he rode alone.
With his Yemen sword for aid;
Ornament it carried none.
But the notches on the blade
1t is only necessary TO suggest how
much better ornament is the Bennett
medal which Cummings has earned
Harper's Weekly.