SELF-REPRESSION
When Havelock was prosecuting his great march for the relief of Lucknow, Sir James Outram was sent out to supersede him. Poor Havelock, tho filled with bitter disappointment, was ready to obey; but when Outram discovered what marvelous feats the unyielding courage and determination of Havelock and his brave men had accomplished, he refused to take the glory which belonged to another, and insisted upon his brother officer finishing the work and earning his glory, while he himself served under him. So by requiring self-repression, courtesy may become a positive virtue.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”
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See [Power in Self-repression].
SELF-RESTRAINT
In the face of a fire peril which would have stricken an ordinary crowd with panic, 600 convicts recently, at the Western Penitentiary, sat quietly through their Sunday afternoon service, with hardly more than a ripple of fear. There was good cause for alarm in a fire in the hosiery factory, not fifty feet away from the chapel, and its smoke enveloped the windows so thickly that electric lights were turned on while Chaplain C. Miller continued the exercises.
Warden Francies himself was in the chapel when the fire broke out. He selected half a dozen “trusties” to help the prison and city fire departments fight the blaze, and then returned to quiet his charges. Fully half of the 600 had looked like stampede, but at a word from Chaplain Miller they recovered composure, reseated themselves, and listened attentively to the sermon. As the flames grew more threatening a second ripple of excitement started, but the choir stayed it by singing many hymns, in which the convicts joined.
The fire was fought for more than an hour, many of the “trusties” doing the most valiant work. Several were overcome by smoke.
After the fire Warden Francies paid many compliments to his charges for the self-restraint they had shown.
“No body of United States troops,” he said, “could have acquitted themselves better under such trying circumstances.”—New Orleans Picayune.