Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume One).djvu/122

 have made an ordinary duel so harmless that usually nothing more than a mere scratch on the face is the result. To fight in this way requires no more courage than to have a tooth drawn; perhaps not even so much. As a true test of courage, therefore, such a duel cannot be regarded. The cause for it mostly consists in nothing but some childish quarrel, wantonly brought on for the very purpose of provoking a challenge; and the student who in this way disfigures his face with a network of unsightly scars is truly foolish to think he can pose as a braver and better man than others who enjoy their youth in a more sensible way during the period when they are preparing themselves for the grave problems of life. It is said that the duel prevents personal quarrels from degenerating into vulgar brawls and fisticuffs, and that the sword is a more dignified weapon than the fist. But this defense appears utterly untenable when we look at the universities of other countries, where dueling is practically unknown and where common fights are as infrequent as they are in Germany. It is also asserted that dueling stimulates a nice sense of honor among young people. But what kind of honor is this? Is it honorable to fight without due cause?. Is it honorable to treat with contempt those who object to dueling about silly nothings? Is not this so-called sense of honor mere shallow and rude rodomontade? It is in fact nothing but the cultivation of an entirely false standard of honor—a self-deception very dangerous to young people, because it confuses their moral principles, upon the clearness and firmness of which the character of the true gentleman rests. Such a notion of honor which consists only in cheap show induces one too easily to forget that the moral courage of a man who unflinchingly and unselfishly stands up in the struggle of opinions and of interests for that which he recognizes as true and right, rises far above all the glories of the dueling-field