Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-04-19
REAL COURAGE.
II Consists In Doing the Right Thing
Against Popular ciamor.

Il Consists In Doing the Right Thing
Against Popular cIamor.
We were talking about courage
the courage men display in time of
danger-and my friend, a man who
had seen much Of life. took me into his
confidence.
People talk about courage" he said,
land In nine cases out Of ten they do
not know what the term means. am
no longer young man. have been In
all parts Of the world, and I've probably
had as many chances to show the white
feather as the average man, but want
to tell you that, in all my experience,
have never but once had my courage
actually put to the test.
when scarcely more than a boy,
Lincoln called for men to go to the
front. I went, and I saw my share of
active service. On more than one oc-
casion I marched with lot Of other
fellows into what seemed to promise
sudden death, and don't think my
heart beat much faster than 1t is beat
ing today. have heard such acts call
ed courageous, but-take 1t from me
they do not take nearly as much cour-
age as many people imagine.
Years afterward I had two expe-
riences with fire-once on boat at sea
and once in an office building in the
city. Both times / made up my mind
that my day had come, but I don't
think that I developed a yellow streak.
I knew helped good many women
out of the burning building, and have
a set Of resolutions at home that 1t was
my courage that saved the day dur
ing the fire at sea. The use Of the term
courage makes me smile sometimes
It is so improperly applied"
But" I persisted, tell me about the
time when you were courageous. There
are plenty Of men who would be proud
of such a record as you have made.
What was the real test Of courage to
which you referred?"
1T was some years after the war;"
he explained. Il was still a compare
lively young man and was working at
my trade. Strikes were just then be-
ginning to be rather fashionable. There
had been a few of them-some Of them
had been fairly successful-and the
boys in the shop began to show dis
position to try the novelty.
Mind you, I'm not opposed to strikes
on general principles. I have known
many occasions when strikes were JUS
tified-when, in fact, they were abso-
lutely necessary-labor would have
been in a pretty sorry condition today
II II had been denied the use of this
weapon Of defense. But this was diff
ferent case. The whole trouble had been
started by q natural-born agitator,
and, before the boss suspected what he
was about, he had infiamed the minds
of the workers to point where moth
ing would satisfy them but strike.
II studied the question carefully, and
made up my mind that the strike was
not only unnecessary, but that 1t was
absolutely unjust, and l felt that 1t was
up to me to prevent 1t. I reached this
decision at a meeting where we were
discussing our troubles and every man
In the room, apparently, was hot for
strike when I got up and commenced
to talk peace They knew me we'll
every mothers son of them. They
knew I was true-blue, but you'd have
thought, had you heard them, that
was a stranger who had been sent to
the meeting by the boss to play the
part Of spy and pacificator. They die
everything they could, short of resort
ing to personal violence. but won the
day, and 1t was not long before they
were all thanking me for having kept
them out Of trouble.
But 1t took courage-more courage
by far than 1t did to face bullets and
fire. To stand up in that room-sur-
rounded by a crowd Of strike crazy
men-and tell them what fools they
were making of themselves-was
the greatest test Of courage that have
had to meet. tell you, the coura-
geous man Is the man who says mol"
Atlanta Journal.