Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — Presence of Mind. [ARTICLE]

Presence of Mind.

A person who knows exactly the fight thing to do in a suildeu emergency, without stopping to think at all, deserves to have his presence of mind noted and commended. A German drum major has lately attained such distinction, with good reason. A regiment of the imperial army, resting on a country road, was appalled to see a great bull madly pursuing a little child iu a field wb*ci» was near by. and yet so far away that the child could not be reached hi time to 'save it, nor' yet' saved by the shooting of the animal. The bull had his horns down, and all the soldiers were horrified to see that in another moment the child must be gored to death. For an instant no one seemed to know what to do, and then the drum major shouted to the buglers of the band, who stood near with their Instruments in their ha nils, to f sound a loud blast. They looked aghast. “Sound, I say, for God’s sake, to save the child!” he repented. Then the buglers blew a blast at the top of their lungs. The drum major knew that animals of the cow kind are so much affected by strange and highpitched musical sounds that they seem compelled to imitate them. This bull proved to be no exception to the rule. As soon as he heard the bugle blast he paused iu his pursuit of the child, glanced toward the hand, raised his head, anil began to bellow nmdly. The buglers kept up as high and discordant a tumult as they could, and meantime soldiers were running to the rescue of the child. Before the bull had finished hits attention to the bugles the child was in a place of safety.