The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-14

1IS uiSpaT2geIneuC MAKES
lim out as being.
Taken broadly, every manly man is
Ia potential hero: and, by the same
token. heroisnl as the exalted quality
(Which 1t has come to represent, does
hot exist. The man who will risk his
2ife in a street emergency IS almost as
common as the occasion. About the
#Rct sentiment throws a brief halo ana
&orgets all about it. That is the he
&oism of luck. which Is the universal
. eroism that every man who is a man
feels in himself. It is merely the ex-
zercise of the fundamental generosity
To- human nature. A dog will do as
|much, as gladly, and with less hes
But the heroism which comes at II
Ereal crisis, which is in response to a
great need and looks to a fine end,
generally falls to the lot of the man
who is best prepared to step into the
breach. Back of the great hours
in red capitals on the calen-
bar of Time stand the heroes whose
achievements were but The fru1tfon OF
Ia potentiality acquired by work. In
sthe large deeds, opportunity. of course,
to the Individual; none the less
opportunity select the man who
WAS on tip-toe for the summons, fully
armed.
That there may be an hundred men
s.itN4AN < SI io1 tA& oA~As
1ying in wait for one does not change
lthe rule. Every day die unknown po-
|tentialities of the highest class of he
Such is the universal prodigall-
IT, of nature shaping material to emer-
.eency. When the emergency arises
Efhe man who meets it is the author
|of his fate.
The potentially of heroism is prep
|sration.
h Meeting of Man and Decd.
Richmond Pearson Hopson is Sc
rure to history, not for the courage
(Which he displayed in the ace of al
pnost certain death: not for the cool
- that accompanied his resolve IN
Sctloh. These qualities he a as a
nalter Of manhood and as Incl
IS of training. They We're a part of
- morale. of American tradition n
Is eVelopment. He shared them with
0haTeds of the officers and men Who
IN IDLY IN the boats of the blockad-
Rg laet off Santiago. His distinction
# in The fact that. better than any
RlAef man in the fleet, he knew how
III dc what was suggested; hat ne
- a mind which could initiate as
ia 81 dts eEecute; that he had a high
~ IHer Of technical knowledge; that,
II Lhls equipment, he added youth,
- >.Fpng, clean body and blood that
tAHSied with daring.
behind the deed of June 3rd, 1895,
Twelve ears of work and appli-
,"toh. The command of the Merri'
NIae was fOreshadowed when Hobson,
II Doy of fifteen, entered the Naval
Aeaaemy in 1885; it drew closer when
j graduated high in his class and,
AIMED for active service. and ex-
Gslenced in s~eamanship, entered in
9o3 the engineering or construction
Ebtanch of the service: it grew closer
Ell with years of perfection in the
IS%le Rationale Superieure des Mines
6.d the EcOle d Application du Genie
r1attlne in Paris: when the Spanish
"aF broke out, it found in Hobson the
man best fitted for the Merrimac I'M
o'LlakIng, an engineering expert. a
+eatIhc navigator, an officer we'll
1efSed and highly prepared in the
3 elenCe of naval warfare. It found in
nm, too, a man whose mind was not
travelling within the limits of the
J.'rIng the situation, testing the weak
points of the enemy, busy with the
arger affairs of the war. SO 1t is that
find the man to whom Admiral
LSampSon turned tentatively With a
Plalf formed purpose already equipped
N"-th an exact knowledge OF conditions
".thIu the theatre of action and ready
Filh three distinct plans, worked out
IN all their detail. The suggestion
2lade. the Admiral found that it had
{ ready been a guest Of Hobson's
.llEd- At once it lowered n a plan,
Aij Hedged. The thing had already
minated. Opportunity brought it
T. bloom.
j ne Merrimac venture which thrill
U4e country on June Srd, 1898, was