The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1907-03-18


on for several years with the question,
Why is a line seen straight? 1t seems
simple enough, yet IL is one of the
stumbling blocks that make UP the
still unsolved general problem of the
nature and development of space per-
.ception. People have to learn to see.
and the eyes do not really serve as
windows of the SOUL 1t is such work
along this and other novel lines that
has attracted special attention to
Browns psychological department and
brought to 1t students from all over the
country.
person who fails to rise to peril
Gus occasion Is not necessarily a cow
ard. The same kind of paralysis which
now and then brings death to man
in danger will take hold of spectator
and render him useless until the time
for action is passed. When the
Larchmont was struck small gale
was kicking up mountainous seas; it
was a regular Arctic night and these
circumstances, combined with the ter
rifying movements of the steamboat,
were enough to make anyone frantic.
The coward is the one who has the
power and thought necessary to do
. +
the saving act and will not
All the world loves a hero and with
good reason, for the hero is one who
will lay down his life not only for his
friend but even for an unknown.
There are heroic professions, like
that of the fireman and the policeman.
The world takes the herolsms of these
uniformed servants somewhat as a
matter of course. Now and then you
read that the policeman who bounds
| into a crowded thoroughfare and stops
a runaway at the risk of his life, or
the fireman who dashes into the killing
smoke and drags forth some half
suffccated tenant, did his duty" But.
as matter Of fact, it takes more than
a sense of duty to rise to such an
emergency. The average person would
| fall down simply for lack of the her
ole quality which enables its possessor
| to face danger coolly and to act
promptly
Danger doesn't wait for spectator
4 to recover his senses and set about the
work of rescue deliberately and me-
thodically 1t challenges instant ac-
,tion. In another moment the runaway
lhorSe would be down upon the crowd
or the insensible body in the smoke
filled room would be beyond resusci-
tation. 1t is the hero's promptness
that saves so many lives; and If there
Is a chance to save a life it is the
/ hero who takes it, 1t is the hero who
averts the tragedy. Other witnesses
may have a fine sense of duty, per-
haps a superior one, but they haven't
| the thought and the power to move.
1 After the crisis is over they can tell
| you what might have been done or
should have been done, but when ac-
Ition was necessary they simply could
not act.
/ 1t has remained for the psychologist
to explain why it is that the world all
lows SO much admiration for the hero
and showers handsome rewards upon
/ him. 1t is for the reason that he has
the gift, either born in him or acquir-
ed, of doing what others would willing
Fly do but cannot, either through
Thought, confusion or through fear. To
the psychologist the hero is an extra
Iordinary character who alone can be
depended upon to save the situation
To the world he is just a man who has
done brave deed. But il is not brav-
INiy lHhL iiidhCS ifCIOB IL IL
primarily the faculty of acting prompt
! ly when others, perhaps equally brave
can't act at all.
i Professor Delabarre cites the case
of the man whose performance of the
appropriate act" was probably the
means Of saving the only two women
i survivors of the Larchmont disaster
The man, who was formerly sailor
had the wit to keep the women ac-
tive Knowing that on such. a frigid
4 night inactivity would bring on death
as 1t actually did In the cases of sew
] eral who succeeded in getting into
boats or onto floating wreckage. TIC
the psychologist this man was no less
a hero than il he had leaped overheard
and saved these women from drown
ing. One act was just as "appropfi-
ate" and necessary and therefore he
roic, as the other would have BEEN
This act was not SO remarkable as
3 what the man did in the first place
when he found al place in one of the
boats for his wife and remained on the