No boy likes to be called a coward, and some boys do things that are
dangerous for fear that their friends will think they have no courage.
Sometimes it is more cowardly to do a dangerous thing like that than not
to do it.
Do not think that you are a coward because you are afraid of dangerous
things. Some of the bravest men the world ever saw have been afraid, but
in spite of their fear they went firmly on.
A story is told of Lord Wellington, a great English general, who saw a
young man in his army who was white with fear just before a battle, and
yet did not run away. Lord Wellington said: "There is a brave man. He
knows the danger, and yet he faces it." Another story is told of a
soldier who was making fun of a second who was badly frightened just
before battle. The frightened soldier said to the other one: "Yes, I am
afraid. And if you were half as much afraid as I am, you would run
away."
The lesson I want to draw is this, that it is not cowardly to be afraid
of things which have danger in them. It is cowardly to run away if you
ought to face them. And if you ought not to face them it is cowardly to
go headlong into them, just because of some other boy's foolish dare.
I remember a playmate who used to bite the heads off the fish he caught,
just because another boy dared him to. It used to make him terribly
sick, but he was too much of a coward not to do it. Some boys take up
smoking and drinking and swearing for the same reason. Any boy who does
that sort of thing is a coward.