The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1917-08-16
The Pleasures Of Fright IN England
From the Spectator, .London.

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S# Nc one who has lived in London through the various air raids
can any longer believe the platitudinous pretcnsion that human fear
ran only be held IN check by discipline and duty. Excitement, curl
fsity, sheer irTesp6nsibiity, the mysterious attraction Of risk, the
mysterious desire to get to the center Ito beHsins it9, and the off
chance Of being useful are each sufficient to overcome fear in the
Cockney. The Londoner may call out for official protection, but he
will not take common precautions. The authorities complain thatsif
warning be given, it will be regarded as a signal to rush into the
streets, see what can be seen, increase ne'sexperience, add to ones
memories, andshavea taetostell when it Is over. Nowit cannot be
deneddhat there is asdeto all this light hearted pluck with which we
have nosspecial need to Be pleased. On the other hand, how terribly
ashamed we should be it 1T were otherwlse-lf the hostile alrplanesa
could drive us all to our holes, empty the streets, and lead every man,
woman and child tostake the precautions which it is the duty of all
officials to scold and persuade them into This light hearted courage
fearful thunderbolt has fallen-those who have seen the shattered
bodies of their children carried out from the debris of a. ruined
schools ca0ousness. Common courage, the sort untnged by con-
scious sacrifice, hasin it such "a streak. There is so littesrefined gold
IN human nature. it gitters in the quartz. We must not expect to
find it in the lump. Complete sympathy and careless courage are
found in great natures only but it must be remembered that the
towards sympathy is useless, everywhere it exists. Anyhow, there
are vast numberssto whom the excitement Of a new danger would
appear leasurable, and many others whose ordinary composure it is
poWeTess to
During the raid which took place on June 13, a young lieutenant
standing on one of the bridges read a motoring paper in the intervals
of looking out for the raiders and listening to the explosions. Women
as merry as their infants, just as we have all seen nurses at the seaside
runt to avoid Al big wave, and as though wetting, not destruction, was
what the roaring noise portended. Stout old gentlemen as well as boys
Iclimbedacn to avail to see what they could, instead of taking cover.
thing like exultation, in q bus, listening with a face of cheerful
Interest to the quick travelling news which explained the thundery
noise he had been describing. He was n elderly man, and seemed
10 feel that Ia he " al Sin IT. like the Youngest Of them-almost at
the front asi it were. "A very real, If hardly conscious, desire to- share
the troubles Of the soldiers hes very near the spring c. this feeling,
which is not, however, sunconnected with the alert determination Of
the Londoner mott be bored, to ENJOY whatever variety Life sends
him, even though it be the risk Of death. We do not want to be
g1ldgineo f praise, but we should fall into the danger of sentimental
ityif We regarded this state of feeling q s wholly new orswholy fine.
AZ il partly new and partly laudable, but something OF the same kind