Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — Cowardice a Disease. [ARTICLE]

Cowardice a Disease.

Everybody despises a coward. Yet arguments can be made that the poor fellow should be loved for pity’s sake, and that he should at least have sympathy. While every one admires the strong and brave, no one likes the poor fellow any the less whom nature has made weak or disease wasted. But there is no kindness for the coward, though cowardice may be just as inevitable, just as uncontrollable in one being as the spasmodic twitching of the muscles may be in another. Courage depends largely upon the condition of the heart. It also lias something to do with the nerves, the lungs and the stomach. Dr. Russell, at Bellevue, will tell you that'he frequently sees patients whom the slightest shock will throw’ into such terror that they have an immediate idea of death. He has had patients cling to him in the night and beg to save them from death, declaring they w’ere either dying or something terrible was going to happen which w’oukl kill them. This is what doctors call pre-cordial fright. Those who are subject to it would likely have an attack on any occasion serious enough to test the nerve of any man. Those less affected by the disease might be courageous enough under ordinary circumstances and utterly prostrated in the sudden presence of great danger. It all depends on the heart. If that organ catches the breath sometimes it will handicap bravery. If the lungs are remiss in supplying good blood, the heart may kick and the nerves weaken. The courage oozes out at the finger tips. Irritation of the nerve centres or any derangement of the nerves of the stomach is as certain to shake the body with fear as unexpected good news is to thrill it with delight. A coward may be a good fellow, and might be able to look a cannon in the mouth if his heart, which he can’t control, would let him alone.