ies, whether nations, parties or individuals, get licked in
the same way. They outrage some one's self-respect, and then the old
primordial cyclone hits them.

CHAPTER II. A TRAIT OF THE WELSH PEOPLE

My family is Welsh, and I was born in Tredegar, Wales. David and Davies
are favorite names among the Welsh, probably because David whipped
Goliath, and mothers named their babies after the champion. The Welsh
are a small nation that has always had to fight against a big nation.
The idea that David stopped Goliath seemed to reflect their own national
glory. The ancient invasions that poured across Britain were stopped in
Wales, and they never could push the Welshmen into the sea.

The Welsh pride themselves on hanging on. They are a nation that has
never been whipped. Every people has its characteristics. "You can't
beat the Irish" is one slogan, "You can't kill a Swede" is another, and
"You can't crowd out a Welshman" is a motto among the mill people.

I didn't want to leave Wales when my parents were emigrating. Though I
was not quite eight years old I decided I would let them go without me.
The last act of my mother was to reach under the bed, take hold of my
heels and drag me out of the house feet first. I tried to hang on to the
cracks in the floor, and tore off a few splinters to remember the old
homestead by. I never was quite satisfied with that leave-taking, and
nearly forty years later when I had car fare, I went back to that town.
I never like to go out of a place feet first, and I cleared my record
this time by walking out of my native village, head up and of my own
free will.

On that trip I paid a visit to the home of Lloyd George in Cricuth.
Joseph Davies, one of the war secretaries to the prime minister, invited
me to dinner and we talked of the American form of government. (Note the
spelling of Davies. It is the Welsh spelling. When my father signed his
American naturalization papers he made his mark, for he could not read
nor write. The official wrote in his name, spelling it Davis and so
it has remained.) "You have this advantage," said Mr. Davies. "Your
president is secure in office for four years and can put his policies
through. Our prime minister has no fixed term and may have to step out
at any minute."

"Yes," I replied jokingly, "but your prime minister this time is a
Welshman."

Since then four years have passed and our president is out. But Lloyd
George is still there (1922). And he