The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-07-27
What Is True
courage7

aWhat is true courage?" asks the
American Journal of Clinical Medi-
cine, and answers that the worlds
estimate Of courage is superficial and
silly.
"Highest IN the worlds scale Of
heroism," it says, '.is the cool, care
less audacity that marches up to the
mouth Of the cannon with flower in
It's cap and frivolous song on its
lips, as serene as on parade. Such
bravery is really the very lowest in
the scale, If indeed it be in the scale
at all, except in the sense that zero
is a part of the scale. It Is not
courage at all, but sheer lack Of SEN
sfbflity, either from ignorance or
from accustomedness. It is In quail
itv the same mental attitude in which
the ignorant. impassive mine worker
walks around in the fire damps, and
when they explode he, too, becomes
a popular hero.
ssNext highest in the worlds gauge
next lowest in the true scale-is the
courage that dares quick danger IN
a sudden emergency. In itself this il
bord1v = more genuine brand Of cour.
age than the first, except that it in
wolves a more or less unselfish disci'
Mining of the man previous to the de-
mand that is made on him. Even SO
it Is more a matter Of habit than Of
quality. The fact that there is NJ
time to count the cost robs it OF any
deliberate merit. Many q man, II
fact, is surprised into q heroisn
which is really no part of him. Ger
tainly it is not high grade Of courage
Rather, let us say, it is negative
sort Of quality, to which If a mar
does not respond on demand we con
clude there is some positive quality o.
poltroonery about him.
"Still lower in the worlds estima'
tion-still higher in actual worth
Is the courage which calmly and de
lfberately holds its courss of duty IN
the face of almost certain calamity
and misfortune, the quiet resolution
to meet ones fate in the face Of fore
gone disaster and disappointment
the steadfast setting Of ones face
to 20 to Jerusalem. OF all forms Of
heroisnn none will so surely win the
love and confidence Of human hearts
which Is worth q hundred times the
administration Of human minds, thar
this.
aHigher yet In the true scale
lower yet in the popular guage il
the courage that sustains itself, as i
were, upon nothing but its own un.
conquerable stamina. The man who
though his fights be all defeats, still
fights, who, though he has been q fail
urs in the past and knows himself
Gas many a keenly sensitive mar
knows himself) to be a failure an6
is doomed to be q failure for the rest
Of his life, rises patiently and indorni-
tably every morning to face the In
evitable defeat Of the day with equan-
unity and sweetness-there is a cour.
age, my masters, Of which the kings
and victors of the earth are not cap.
able.
"But there is q yet higher quality
of courage, the highest Of all in the
true scale, but so little esteemed il
the popular mind that It will hardly
be accorded a place in the scale al
all unless, as I said in respect of the
first type, to be zero is to be a par
of the gauge. It is the courage OF
cowardice, the bravery Of the mar
who is afraid, but who in mortal funl
and abject fear, with throbbing hears
and sweating brow, forces himself Il
do the thing from which he shrinks
This, which the world sneers at Al
cowardice, is the highest courage Of
all. In fact, it is the only true cour
age, for it sets all the agonized eff,
fort of mans soul against all the
fears and terrors that the powers Of
darkness can bring upon him."