University of Virginia Library

8. INDECISION.

We know not to whom the remarks above quoted are
to be attributed, but every observer of human actions will
acquiesce in their justice. There are few misfortunes
greater than the possession of an irresolute mind. Other
afflictions are temporary in their nature; the most inveterate
of chronic diseases leaves the patient his hours of
comfort; but he who lacks decision of character must
cease to act altogether before he can be released from the
suffering it occasions. It is felt, whether the occasion
be great or small, whenever there is more than one method
of arriving at the same end, and it veers like a girouette
at the aspect of alternatives. One can scarcely go so far
as the poet, who quaintly says:

But the lines are pregnant with meaning. The curse of
indecision impedes the growth of virtue, and renders our
best powers comparatively inoperative.

It would certainly be the parent of interminable confusion
if all men were qualified to lead in the affairs of
the world. The impulse to direct and to command is
almost irrepressible. He who is born with it instinctively
places himself at the head of a movement, and
clutches the baton of authority as if it had been his plaything
from infancy. Even in the sports of childhood,
the controlling and master spirit of the merry group is to
be detected at a glance; and, if three men act together
for a day, the leading mind discovers and assumes its
place. The inferior in mental power sink rapidly to their
appropriate station; the contemplation of an emergency
tends to convince them that they are incompetent to head
the column, and, although they may grumble a little,
they soon fall quietly into the ranks. It, therefore,
would not answer if all men had that self-reliance and
that iron will which are the essential ingredients in the
composition of a leading mind. The community would
be broken up into a mob of generals, with never a soldier
to be had for love or money. There would be no more
harmony extant than there is in the vocal efforts of a
roomfull of bacchanalians, when each man singeth his
own peculiar song, and hath no care but that he may
be louder than his boon companions. Our time would
be chiefly spent in trying to disprove the axiom, that
when two men ride a horse one must ride behind. Each
pony in the field would have riders enough; but, instead
of jogging steadily toward any definite end, he who was
in the rear would endeavour to clamber to the front, and
thus a species of universal leap-frog would be the order
of the day. Great results could not be achieved, for action
in masses would be a thing unheard of, and the nations
would be a collection of unbound sticks.

Yet the cultivation of the energies to a certain extent

is a matter of import to the welfare and happiness of
every individual. We are frequently placed in circumstances
in which it is necessary to be our own captain-general;
and, with all deference to the improving spirit
of the time, and to the labours of the many who devote
themselves to the advancement of education, it must be
confessed that the energies do not always receive the attention
to which they are entitled. It is true there is an
abundance of teaching; we can scarcely move without
coming in contact with a professor of something, who,
in the plenitude of his love for his fellows, promises, for
the most trifling consideration, to impart as much if not
more than he knows himself, in a time so incredibly
short that, if we were not aware of the wonder-working
power of the high pressure principle, we should not believe
it; but no one has yet appeared in the useful character
of a “Professor of Decision”—no one has yet thought it
a good speculation to teach in six lessons of an hour
each, the art of being able without assistance speedily to
make up the mind upon a given subject, and to keep it
made up, like a well-packed knapsack. There are arithmeticians
and algebraists in plenty; but the continent
may be ranged without finding him who can instruct us
how to solve, as Jack Downing would express it, a “tuff
sum” in conduct, and to act unflinchingly upon the
answer; and ingenuity has discovered no instrument to
screw the mind to the sticking place. Now, although
humility may be a very amiable characteristic, and deference
to the opinions of others a very pleasing trait, yet
promptness in decision and boldness in action form the
best leggins with which to scramble through the thistles
and prickles of active life; and a professor of the kind
alluded to would doubtless have many pupils from the
ranks of those who have, by virtue of sundry tears
and scratches, become anxious for a pair of nether integuments
of that description. At least, he might rely
upon