.
~Remarkable Instance of Courage in a Lady.~
In the Life of Thomas Day, Esq., an anecdote is related of Miss B----,
afterwards Mrs. Day, shewing with what remarkable effect presence of
mind and courage can tame the ferocity of the brute creation.
Miss B. was, on one occasion, walking in company with another young lady
through a field, when a bull came running up to them with all the marks
of malevolence. Her friend began to run towards the stile, but was
prevented by Miss B., who told her, that as she could not reach the
stile soon enough to save herself, and as it is the nature of these
animals to attack persons in flight, her life would be in great danger
if she attempted to run, and would be inevitably lost if she chanced to
fall; but that, if she would steal gently to the stile, she herself
would take off the bull's attention from her, by standing between them.
Accordingly, turning her face towards the animal with the firmest aspect
she could assume, she fixed her eyes steadily upon his. It is said by
travellers, that a lion itself may be controlled by the steady looks of
a human being; but that, no sooner a man turns his back, than the beast
springs upon him as his prey. Miss B., to whom this property of animals
seems to have been known, had the presence of mind to apply it to the
safety of her friend and of herself. By her steady aspect she checked
the bull's career; but he shewed the strongest marks of indignation at
being so controlled, by roaring and tearing the ground with his feet and
horns. While he was thus engaged in venting his rage on the turf, she
cautiously retreated a few steps, without removing her eyes from him.
When he observed that she had retreated, he advanced till she stopped,
and then he also stopped, and again renewed his frantic play. Thus by
repeated degrees she at length arrived at the stile, where she
accomplished her safety; and thus, by a presence of mind rarely seen in
a person of her youth and sex, she not only saved herself, but also, at
the hazard of her own life, protected her friend. Some days afterwards,
this bull gored its master.
~Indian Field Sports.~
We give a few anecdotes illustrative of the above, from a work intitled
"Sketches of Field Sports, as followed by the Natives of India," from
the reading of which we have derived much pleasure. The authority is Dr.
Johnson, East India Company's Service.
He begins by informing his readers, that the "Sh
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