The Washington herald., 1915-01-18
THE TEST OF A MAN.
By oRIsoN SWEET MoRDEN.
Copyright 1916.

(Copyhght, l9l5)
According to an anecdote that comes
from the European war stage, the Cars
famous Cossacks must be credited with
other and subtler qualities than those
hich have invested their very name
with terror.
An Austrian general, so the story runs.
wished to disabuse the minds of his
soldiers of the idea of the prowess and
invincibility of the Cossack. Seated on
his horse he read them a lecture on the
subject, and undertook to prove then and
there that the Cossack cavalry were no
more formidable than any other horse
men.
Ordering a Cossack prisoner brought
before him, the Austrian commander
handed him a sword and explained that
he wanted him to show what he could
do With it. The soldiers crowded around,
delighted with the fun. The COssack
Whiyled the sword, and with a wild cry,
" hich is part of the language used by
all horse-loving people of the world in all
ages, and has a curious effect upon the
equine species, suddenly leaped up be-
hind the general
He forced the horse to charge into
the crowd of soldiers, who were unable
to shoot for fear of killing their own
chief and made ready way before them.
The COssack headed for home. The Aus
trian Outposts, surprised by the curious
apparitiOn. sent a few wild shots after
the pair without effect, and the general
went into captivity fully persuaded that
there was, after all, something diabCli-
cal about these COssacks.
What you do in an emergency is 4
pretty good measure of your caliber. You
will either brace up, be equal to the
occasion, or your courage WI fail and
you will collapse. The shock will either
bring out the hero or the coward, the
resourceful man who has initiative and
| reserve power or the man whU has none.
| You will either be master OF the sItua-
tion or its slave.
No human being knows how much OF
man or woman he is, how much stamina
and grit he possesses until he faces some
great emergency, some supreme crisis in
his life which tests his quality.
| always feel anxious about a young
man when l see him facing the critical
moment of his life, confronting crucial
emergency which will either make OF
break him, and / ask myself, What will
he do with it, what will he make OF il?
| Will ii bring out the man in him? Will
| il call out his latent forces, backed up
| by all the energies he can muster. or
will he quail and shrink from the trial?
Will he conquer it, or will il conquer
| him?
Every youth. at some time, faces sucn
crisis, and he is never again quite the
same man. II ii conquers him, II he has
not the courage. the grit and persistence
to meet it like man he will lose some
thing of power, of energy, of ambition; he
| will never be quite as strong again,
never so well able to rise u another
emergency. He will not carry the air OF
a conqueror after he has once lowered
! his ideal.
Just like a dog which has mt its su-
| periOr and is conquered, though proud OF
! his prOwess before meeting his equal, he
! is ChagTined and cannot recover the con.
fdence he had before his defeat. If the
| young man faces his crisis bravely and
/ COnQuers IL. he will go through the world
a victor fun of confidence, but If he is
| defeated. he will go through life like tn,
| conquered dog
| The Divine in man rushes to his assist,
| anCe whenever he is in peril, whenever
/ he is called on to face an extraordinary
OcCa sion. 1t is merely a question wheth-
er one will or will not use the latent
| power within him.
| Thousands OF men and Womyn in San
Francisco looked on the 18th of April
1896, as the birthday of new power which
| they never before dreamed they pos
| sessed. The shock of the sreas earth
quake seemed to awaken sleeping brain
cells, to arouse latent energies, extraor-
Oinary resources OF which they nevet
before were conscious. 1t exploded giant
powder in the then mayor of San Fran
cisco and developed in him, almost with
| in a day tremendous executive ability
which was, unfortunately. Overshadowed
| later by his completely in criminal opera
tons. 1t caused the shackles TO IA,
of from thousands who had been pre-.
CiOusly physical. mental or moral slaves
! Many young man never comes tC
| himself as long as he feels that he can
! lean on somebody else for support. Many
a girl never knows what she can do un-
! til some great misfortune overtakes her
/ until she is thrown upon her own re-
! sources by the death of her father the
| loss Of the family property, or some sud.
den change in conditions which brings
/ her real self to light