The Washington herald., 1913-10-13
WOMAN AND THE HOME ,... ss.:s s,:..., z Man.
WE CANNOT ESCAPE
HARD EXPERIENCES
But We Can Face Then viii Daunt-
less Courage and Bear Them
with Gesd Cheer.
By FRANCEs sHAEFER.

As we read of the Polish miner who
emerged from, his eight days Of impris-
onment In narrow cell 100 feet below
the surface. resolutely cheerful and not
at all inclined to magnify his expert
ences, we speak Of his ..stoic fortitude''
almost as IL IL covered a nature quite
different from our own. For. as we
think Of him. and many another OF his
kind. down there In the blackness aLe
uncertainty. hopefully pinning their faith
to the tireless workers overhead, IL seems
impossible that We could show even the
semblance Of a brave heart through 1t
all. Il
Such accidents come ali. TOO frequently
to men. whose working lives are spent
down in the mines. and when disaster
tovertakes them and they are imprisoned
for long days at time, or until death
releases them, generally there is some
sort OF record Of splendid fortitpde.
While they have no choice in the matter
OF enduring the weary houfss'as they.
lengthen Into days and nights and can
do no more than walt and pray for the
moment Of release they need not be so
CHEEKY and brave in the waiting. For Il
Is brave and splendid to accept a bitter
and very perilous situation thrust upon
them all In a minute without any signs
OF quailing. Accept II they must. but II Ii
the spirit that matters.
And we need only read the stories Of
some of these lowliest of workers. men
without any training other than that OF
their own dificult lives TO teach them
the meaning OF the gentleman un-
afraid" 10 realize that they are among
the first to rise to hard occasion. They
slip In line In the hour of peril and will
ingly risk life that life may, be saved.
and when the dangers of their daily work
pass into grim realities, they accept their
fate and are cheerful withal
And II Is impossible to read such stories
without wondering at the strength of
spirit that carries such brave-hearted
men along. For the brave folk I'm the
world are not alone those who imperil
their lives or surrender their own ad-
vantages at the urgent signal Of distress
somewhere out in the darkness: there
are the others who cheerfully accept the
bittercst doses that life deals out, accept
because they must. but smile because
their courageous hearts bid them smile
and go on smiling.
II there was any way of escape they
would work to the last to find an outlet.
but, without that hope, they take their
courage in their tired hands, and are
cheerful to the last. And II Is the stout
hearted acceptance that makes their
stories SO inspiring.
And how do they DO IL?
One fancies that early in life they make
UP their minds that there Is no great gain
in rebelling and that courage alone will
carry them through. Perhaps back of
the "stoic fortitude" Is the realization
that the milder the rebellion and the
brighter the cheer in their dark little
prison-houses. whatever they may be,
so much the quicker and easier will the
hours go by.
Among other impressions gathered by
Thomas Mott Osborne in his self-imposed
experience as a convict to learn from
the inside what Imprisonment feels like,
he tells that, after the first few hours.
the realization that he could not break
through the confining bars and walls
stirred within him sense OF desperation.
almost of frenzy. Yet he was amazed at
the splendid courage of the real convicts.
at the friendly interest displayed, one for
another, and at their spirit Of resigna-
ton. And he believes that after what
he went through in his week shut away
from the world he has imagination.l
enough to put himself Sin the shoes of
most OF the convicts." Since every min |
ute OF the time he held the key to his |
own release. one Is quite inclined TO
question that; but his days and nights !