The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-01-26
What
Is
HerOiSn1!
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

4 YOUNG woman has been called a
Il heroine because she simulated
leprosy in order to be sent TO the
island in the Pacific ocean where her
lover had gone to die by inches.
A man writes me that he knows
wife who is heroine because she has
given her whole life, strength and time
for ten years to the care of a good
husband, who was suddenly stricken
With some disease which crippled him
for life.
Another woman rushed through fiery
flames, and another braved angry
waves to save her child
Not one of these women seems, TO
my thinking. deserving the special
laurels reserved for heroism.
cannot imagine either one doing
other than what she did for her lover,
ner faithful husband or her child.
1t WAS the natural impulse Of love.
To be the companion of the man who
was doomed to the slow and awful
death of the leper meant more happi-
ness for the woman who loved him
than anything life could offer her away
from him.
There is no heroism in doing that
which gives the greatest personal hap
piness.
Any woman who preferred another
course OF action in such a situation
would not be capable of really loving.
The wife who did not find her dearest
JOY in waiting on the crippled husband
whom she adOred would be an impOstor
IN the kingdom of love. Her affection
would be an assumption.
However hard, painful and difficult
her labor, however great the sacrifices
1t necessitated-yet they would be the
natural, spontaneous offering of her
heart if she loved him. She could not
do otherwise.
This is not heroiSm
The same arguments hold with moth
ers Who risk life and limb to save their
children from peril
What else could be expected of them?
Their children were a vital part of
themselves.
The real heroes are those who sacri-
fee personal comfort and face death,
urafraid, for the benefit of humanity
at large, or in the performance of a
painful and disagreeable duty.
Father Damien was a hero, giving his
life for all the poor lepers-not for
some one loved one
The young woman, Miss King who,
in the prime of lovely girIhood, has
riSked her life for science-for the pos
sible benefit of future generations-is
a heroine.
The woman who smothers a passion
for one she believes to be her real
mate, and devotes herself to making
happy the man she chose in early
youth, because she knows his life will
be wrecked otherwise, is heroine. and
so is the wife who has suffered cruel
establishment, yet for the sake of
her children makes the best Of the stu
alton and keeps her home peaceful and
her life clean.
The girl who turns her back upon
! mighty temptation in the form of
ardent and ailuring love- because to
accept it means the crucifxion of an
other woman's heart. is a heroine.
There are many such in the world of
whom we never hear
Soldiers are frequently called heroes
who do not deserve the appellation for
their deeds of daring courage any
more than the hurdle racers or foot
ball experts do for their skill and rash
ness.
Ia the great excitement of war the
same delirium of pleasure in adventure
often seizes a man which affects the
! lover of sports.
| But Sam Davis, that young Confed-
| crate spy who refused to tell who his
eonfederates were, although the tell
/ ing would give him life and freedom
| he was a hero.
| The great world lay before him.
For he was in his youth.
/ With love of life young hearts are rife,
But better he loved truth.
/ He fought for his convictions,
! And when ne stood at bay
He would not finch or stir one inch
J From honOr's narrow way.
| They offered life and freedom
( If he would speak the world;
! In silent pride he gazed aside
1 As one who had not heard.
! They argued, pleaded, threatened
! 1t was but wasted breath.
| Let come what must. l Keep my trust, -
lie said, and laughed at death.
He would not sell his manhood
To purchase priceless hope;
Where kings drag down name and
/ crown
He digniied a rope
Ah. grave, where was your triumph?
] All. death, where was your sting?
/ He showed YOU how man could bow
To doom and stay a king.
To do that which you desire to do,
and which gives you the greater hap
piness in doing, is not heroism, how
/ ever brave.
! To do that which is painful and dis
tasteful, because it means ultimate
benefit to Others-that is heroism.
| ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.