Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1870 — Presence of Mind. [ARTICLE]

Presence of Mind.

There are few things which ■ are leas understood than the nature of presence of mind. It ha* been supposed by some to be mainly the result of a cool and lymphatic temperament. By others it has been supposed to be mainly the result of fearlessness. But these are mistakes. A single example will almost suffice to verify the foregoing statements. The first Napoleon possessed, in a very high degree, the great quality of presence ot mind. It is probable that he possessed it in a much higher degree than any man in his army. But he had by no means a cool and lymphatic temperament. On the contrary, he was of a very excitable and irritable nature, as most great men are apt to be. Again, it would be a very bold thing to say, that he was more fearless than any man in his army, doubtless there were many men as fearless as he. We must look, therefore, for other causes. I say causes,” because any manifestation of human character is the result, in general, of several causes. But if there is one predominant cause, it is hopefulness. There are also minor causes of much importance. Men differ very much in the swiftness of their thinking. Men differ still more in their habits of concentrating thought, and relieving their attention from extraneous matter* But great proficiency in swiftness of thinking, and in concentrating thought, would not give presence of mind, unless there were hopefulness. For a man to have presence of mind he must be sure of these three things, that in any difficulty or emergency there is always something to be done, that this something may be made the best thing to be done, and, lastly, that there is nearly always time in which to do it. I will give a singular illustration of this —one which I have used before, but which I cannot do without on the present occasion. To all those who have studied the ways of serpents, it is known that these reptiles cannot spring at you when in a state of coil; they must uncoil themselves before they can make their spring upon you. Now, a man who knows this fact in natural history, if he should come upon a coiled serpent which raises its head, and, as the man sees,meanß battle, this man will have presence of mind, because he has reason for hope that there is time for him to do something. Accordingly it is worth his while to think; and, so inconceivably rapid are the processes of thought, that he has time to think that it is worth his while to think. Shall he move to the right, cr the left? Shall he endeavor to get to that tree ? Shall he fire his revolver ? If the man did not know that he had time to think, he would give himself up to despair, and, like a frog or a rabbit, stupidly await the spring of his enemy. In this particular case the hope is borr of knowledge; but in any man who is concerned in great affairs, and who requires much presence of mind, there should be a hopefulness, not .depending upon knowledge,—a habit of hopefulness arising from the fact that hopefulness generally carries the day. He rhould look upon all dangers and difficulties as coiled serpents, which, by their nature, must uncoil, and give him some time before they can spring upon him. At least, there is something comforting in the foregoing view, because, if true, it shows that presence of mind is a thing which may, to a certain extent, be acquired. We have been led a long way out of the usual road when we have come to the conclusion that presence of mind mainly depends upon hopefulness,—in fact, upon a sanguine temperament, but perhaps it may .not be a wrong way. Mr Emerson quotes a conversation of Napoleon with Las Cases, in which the great conqueror remarked, “ As to moral courage I have rarely met with the'two-o’clock-in-the morning kind ; I mean unprepared courage, that which is necessary on an unexpected occasion; and which, in spite of the most unforeseen events, leaves full freedom of judgment of decision;” and he did not hesitate to declare that he was himself eminently endowed with this two-o’clock-in themorning courage, and that he had met with few persons equal to himself in this respect. The reader will see, that, if I am right in the foregoing analysis of presence of mind, Napoleon is wrong in attributing it to courage. But men seldom analyse carefully the qualities which they possess largely. Familiarity with these qualities of theirs renders them dull in the analysis of them.— Good Words.