The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-08-18
TO THINK AND tt. ACT
towards Show a Times Rare
Presence of Mind-Nan of Courage
Need No Sudden Impulse to Do and
to Dare-StoDping a Runaway.

Need No Sudden Impulse Il Do III
to Dare-StoDping a Runaway.
There is a distinction to be drawn
between the presence Of mind and
courage. People who are naturally
timid and nervous will under circum-
stances of great danger and excite
ment perform acts of heroism which
would be beyond their powers on or
binary occasions. We speak Of these
as instances of persons showing pres
ence Of mind. but If you asked them
they would tell you that an involun-
tary impulse, rather than any premedi-
tated course Of action, guided their
will on the occasion. Had they had
time for reflection, when all the threat
ening danger to themselves nae be-
come clear to their minds, their natural
timidity Of character would have as
serted itself and deprived them Of &C
ton.
On the other hand, courage may be
described as the absence of fear and
all thought for self-preseryation, and
its possessor is not dependent upon any
mOmentary impulse to call it into be-
ing. His mind is disciplined and un-
der control, and he is unmoved before
the peril which confrOnts him. There
is no Drawer body of men than the
London police, and any one who has
witnessed M of the guardians Of the
street traffic step forward and seize a
runaway horse in a crowded thorough
fore cannot have failed to admire his
courageous act.
NOBLEST KIND OF COURAGE.
h is more thar presence Of mind:
it is bravery of the noblest and best
kind. It was no sudden thought or in
spiration which came into the police
mans mind. Long before the horse
reached him he saw it coming, and he
knew he ran a risk of his life when he
rushed to the rescue.
1t is the absence of fear which
prompts the soldier, under a heavy fire
from the enemy's guns, to go to the as
sistance of a wounded comrade and
bring him to a place of safety, and
nothing in human nature car compare
with such self-sacrifice. But in times
of sudden emergency it is not always
the brayest who act with prOmptitude,
and the following story is an instance
of this:
Toward the close of the Crimean war
a troopship was returning to England
with invaded men, and one morning
at sea a group of officers on the deck
discussed the subject of firing shells.
a soldier was told by Col. B.. to bring
an empty shell with a fuse. The colo
mel took the shell in his hands and
striking a match, lighted the fuse. AS
this slowly burned and the colonel pro-
ceeded with his address to the other
officers another soldier passed the
group, and the moment he caught sight
of the shell he rushed forward, eX-
claiming: "Take care, sir; the shell is
a live Onev!'
THROWS THE SHE'LL OVER
BOARD.
He then did what never seemed to
come into the minds of any in the
group of officers: he seized the shell out
of the hands of the colonel and threw
it into the sea. For this service he
was made a sergeant, and on coming
home he had the honor Of receiving a
small present from the hands of the
queen, to whom he was presented. The
soldier who had been told to bring an
empty shell had gone into the wrong
magazine. | many times talked owe
this incident with the sergeant, and he
repudiated any idea that he had done
a brave action Il don't KNOW" he
said, what made me seize the shell
out of the %colonel's hands, but it came
suddenly into my mind, and l did it."
1t is this coming suddenly into the
mind this wave. of unconscious thought
which constituted true presence Of
mind. This will come to people of
nervous and even cowardly natures.
l remember an instance when a man
whom | knew to be utterly deficient in
courage saved himself from an awk-
ward situation He Owed in a town in
the Midlands, where he was an rga
list. Late one evening he was return
ing home through some of the back
streets. which at that hour were more
Or less empty of people. AS he went
along, however, he noticed, some dis
lance ahead of him, a man II woman
walking side by side, the mans arm
being around the w0man'S neck. just
under a gas lamp the couple stopped
for a moment, when he heard a pierre
ing scream and saw the woman slowly
falling from the man's arm.
FINDS HER THROAT CUT
Almost before she had reached the
ground the man darted away down a
side street and disappeared. When the
organist came up to the woman he
found to his horror that she was lying
in a pool of blood. His first impulse
was to run away, but his better feel
ings prevailed and he knelt down be-
side the poor woman to see il he could
do anything for her. When he raised
her head he found she was quite dead,
with her throat cut from ear to. ear.
Beside her ON the pavement lay a
blOOd-Stained razor.
The Organist was Overwhelmed
with the horror of the scene. Before
he could collect himself a group of peo-
pie had gathered. as they invariably
do when anything happens in the