The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1907-03-18
Some Heroes Are Born
While Others Are Made
Goodness and Bravery May Be Born or May Be Ac-
CURED by Experience = Lessons of
Loss of Larchmont

providence, March 18.--There we're
some heroes aboard the Larchmont
when she went down In Long Island
Sound recently with more than hum
dred of her passengers and crew. There
We're some who were not overcome by
the novelty of the situation, by the
panic that followed the collision, and
who coolly and promptly did what they
could to help their fellow passengers.
Unfortunately, for the most part they
remain unnamed, these men who paus-
ed to assist others before looking out
for themselves; and though their eff
forts counted for little and many here
are in mourning, this herosm spoken
of by some of the handful of survivors
| Is the single bright feature of one of
the saddest chapters in the history of
the Rhode Island capital
Now 1t is that only a few of scores
on board the Larchmont that tragic
night thought of helping others? The
answer Is that the hero is the exeep-
tional man. He is not like most 9TH
ers. He was born different or made
| different by training Ar observation.
The statement that some heroes are
| born and others made comes from
Prof. +. b. Delabarre, head of the psy-
| Geological department of Brown uni
versity, who also defines the hero as
the man who in situations involving
personal risk does something when
others can do nothing.
| What makes man a hero or a girl
| a heroine is not so much a matter of
courage or bravery as of mental poise
In most people the sense of danger
| first of all makes itself felt This
feeling, the confusion attending a novel
situation which demands action but
/ without suggesting It. and the instinct
of fear-any or all of these may act
like paralytic stroke. Then, in the
majority of human beings, follows pan
! ie. There is a movement or effort tc
get somewhere-any where-away from
the danger Consequently a person
so situated often plunges from bad t.
worse. This accounts for the accidents
that befall those who lean from one
track to another without thinking, anC
in escaping one danger throw them.
selves right into the path. of another
IThey may have seen the other car Of
train or vehicle, but In their panic
they forget all about it and become 1t:
victim.
The hero is above all the man Will
the cool head" He has the impuls,
to do the appropriate act" as tn,
4 psychologists call it, and this he doe;
Igenerally without considering what tn,
result may be to himself. quick al
a thought" as the saying goes, he Il
at the work of rescue. This comes
about simply because, for some rea
Ison. the peculiar elements of the situa
Ition have not overwhelmed his facul
ties He either was born that way o.
else previous experience with danger
had developed in him the impulse t,
do the appropriate act
The expression quick as thought
which Is often used in connection will
heroic performances, is full of mean
ing to the psychologist who can tel
you exactly how long 1t takes to turl
Thought into action. In the psyche
logical laboratory such as Brown uni
lversity possesses are pieces of appara
tns which are frequently used by TIL
. students to measure the time it take
for an impression to produce a though
and a thought to produce action Th
apparatus is gauged so fine that
/
part of q second can be registered TIL
TACT of the hero springs from a though
that flashes across his mind with TIL
lrapidity of lightning. Whereas Il
n most people the appearance of DANCE
I renders the mind absolutely incap
Il able Of thought for some length of tim
L In the hero the same impression start
| a thought in the twinlxling of an eye
land this thought Immediately leads +
|, faction. Gauged by the apparatus Il
1.-THE psychological laboratory, the her
may not be one of the quickest 0
thinkers but he is the quickest to act
OF course, the laboratory is no plac
L for the performance of heroic deeds
The hero Is the man who rises to som
particular occasion. The laborator
lis all the while making great stride
toward the solution of elemental prob
lens having to do with the huma
faculties. This Is particularly tru
OF the Brown laboratory, which has
Reputation for original research on tn
part OF Professor Delabarre and hi
student assistants. The professor, fo