The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-14
FORGE OF HABIT.

Its Transmission a Deep Secret of
 Nature.
 The writer of the Curbstone Sayings in the Chicago Inter-Ocean records in- cidents of the force of habit and it's transmission.
 We had an explosion near our school building the other day." said the pro- lessor, land I was greatly interested in the bearing of children under the unusual excitement. Of a group of boys nearest the scene of trouble ll,scurried away except two. One of these faced in dazed, mechanical way toward the smoke, brought his heels together and stood in the position of soldier, straight and stolid, awaiting develop ments. The other boy threw himself fiat on the ground, and with head slightly raised, watched unexcit edly the turmoil about the scene of the ex- plosion. < ..
 T knew both boys we'll and their fa- thers before them. $FGoing out from Nashville along the Murfreesboro pike on the 26th of December, 1862, our brig ade, part of Rosecran's army, moving on Stone river, came suddenly on the rear guard of the enemy. Our company was marching at the time in two ranks in the middle of the white road, while other companies and battalions were in order of battle on either side of the road At the advance we were press ing forward, not anticipating any seri- ous resistance, when we saw on a rise in. front of us, and beyond our skir- mishers and videtes, the flash of brass field guns, going into position.
 "A minute later the cannon balls struck in quick succession on the road not three feet to the left of the center of our company. as it halted in two rank formation, extending back along the pike. Every one was taken by sur prise by the suddenness and vicious ness of the attack, but not man mov- ed. The man nearest the spot where the shots struck the hard macadam- ized road, and whose face and clothes were covered with the dust and gravel thrown up, looked neither to the right nor to the left, but, straight ening his figure, stood at attention, facing square ly1 to the front. The next shot might strike him, and it might come in an in stant, but instinctively he faced the danger, wherever it was.
 "The colonel, not twenty feet away noticed the bearing of the men with a gleam of pride in his eyes, and then said in matter-of-course way: They have your range, men. Move off the road before they fire again. The mer moved deliberately to the line of fence 1 on the road side and a minute later three more cannon balls were planted just where the company had stood, and again my stolid men faced to the front and said theoretically: There they go They have skedaddled.' Four days later ! I saw the same man in the panic hour I of a days battle and I'll the midst of i the terror and confusion he stood, stol- 1 idly facing the front and the other men fleeing from crumbling lines, aligned themselves upon him.
 "So it happened that he became the center of a new line of desperate fight CTS looking for something to rally upon, for something to cling to in the storm of battle, for somebody who would stand against the pursuing enemy. He stood, and they stood, and later it be- came a habit with all of them when confronted by danger to face as he fac | ed that day, and to confidently wait developments. The boy who faced the smoke on the day of our small explo- sion was the youngest son of my stol- J id soldier friend, and my theory is that