Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-02-10
Courage It's Qualities and
It's Uses CIeverJy Explained

force that is at once cold and OF fire.
Your weak heart Ia nerved with an un-
known power. A god has arisen within
you. You are yourself a thousRndfold.
Your brain Is alert. You're eve is acute.
Into your face has come strength-e
fine radiance.
You, the weakling. are a force indomit-
able.
Some there are who think that this
magic Of absolute and supreme courage
may be acquired. But It is not So II 10
born with the being who possesses Il.
And IL Is a quality OF the soul that 10
not to be crushed out Neither IL II
to be crushed out by the torture OF the
hell-life Of the prison. nor by the grind
and wear Of circumstances. II is as
divine and eternal light.
True. It Is that you may be used and
broken in to danger You may work
slowly out unbalanced, along the yard
when the storm Is smashing and devour-
ing the ship. You may stand steadily In
the midst of hailing bullets. And still you
may not possess this absolute and SUI
preme courage.
Or you may be a duelst-one who has
killed many men. Or a wholesale slayer
Of your kind. This courage is TO known
but by the sudden and unexpected test.
when a country is in danger this
courage magic Is the thing that alone
will avail At such times the power OF
gold Is as nothing II you have not men
who are without fear. Neither do you
want men of loud, patriotic words. nor
the half-treacherous men of compromise.
Women have always loved the man Of
courage, for these were the men upon
whom all depended In the vague and
dread time, gone by tens of thousands OF
years. these men went forth and slew the
immense and horrible monsters who were
then the lords of the world. They went
forth and faced tremendous and devour-
ing dragons. They slew dread. giant
tigers. And II was because of these rare
men that in the fullness Of time the
human man grasped the world.
These men of the courage-magic were
the gods of the dim beginning. They went
to the lairs Of unspeakable brute forms
and challenged them. They outfaced them
in the depths Of immense forests. And
so it was that they were deified and
adored. And rightly so.
But for them some other being than
man would now hold the world.
And they sailed forth in ships into the
far, engulfing mystery of the ocean.
These fine men of courage They feared
neither the sweeping waves nor the
storms nor the dread monsters that rose
out of the black depths TO seize them as
they stood on their heaving ships. They
fronted blackness and mystery and death
with indomitable faces. These men-gods
OF the old times.
They built nations and empires. Aloft
they held the sword. and lol beneath it's
protecting shade there sprung up the arts
and the crafts and the sciences. The
sword Let us reverence the sword. For
It brought into the world the magical
calm of peace.
So rail not because the world erects it's
finest and noblest statues to men OF cour-
age. And rail not at the sword. For from
the sword comes life.
The world owes all it has to the men
who were possessed Of the magic OF abso4
lutte courage. And the world will owe to
them all that is yet to come to 1t.
To these men. thinkers and statesmen
and idealists are as nothing.
These men of the wondrous courage
magic are the men whose destiny Il is to
lead the world into safety and happiness.
Away with your takers and thinkers.
Away with your men OF compromise. The
world is to be saved. but by the sword
These glorious men of courage! These
descendants OF the old gods! Let us
give them homage and reverence!