difference is
only that you are twenty-five and I am fifty."

As Wilhelm was silent and thoughtful, Schrotter went on:

"There is a great deal to be said about symbols. Theoretically you are
right, but life practically does not permit of your views. Everything
which you see and do is a symbol, and where are you to draw the line?
The flag is one, but without doubt the battle is one too. I believe, in
spite of the historian who is wise after the event, that the so-called
decisive battles do not decide anything, and that it is the accidental
events which have the permanent influence on the destiny of peoples.
Neither Marathon nor Cannae kept the Greeks or Carthaginians from
destruction; all the Roman conquests did not prevent the Teutonic race
from overrunning the world; all the Crusader conquests of Jerusalem did
not maintain Christianity, or Napoleon's victories the first French
Empire; nor did the defeats sustained by the Russians in the Crimea
influence their development. And finally, I am convinced that Europe
to-day would not be materially different, even if all the decisive
victories of her people could be changed into defeats, and their
defeats into victories. So you see that a battle is a symbol of the
momentary capabilities of a people, and a very useless symbol, because
it tells nothing of the immediate future, and yet you will sacrifice
your life for this symbol, and not for another! It is not logical."

"You are right," said Wilhelm, "and our actions in cases like this are
not guided by logic. But one thing I am sure of, if everything else is
a symbol, a man's life is not. It is what it appears to be; it
signifies just itself."

"Do you think so?" said Schrotter thoughtfully.

"Yes, although I understand the doubt implied in your question. A
living man is to me a secret, which I respect with timidity and
reverence--who can tell his previous history, what things he does, what
truths he believes in, what happiness he is giving to others? Therefore
when I see him in danger I willingly risk my life to save his. I know
myself, and I estimate my value as a trifling thing."

Schrotter shook his head.

"If that were right, an adult must in all cases give his life to save a
child, because he might grow to be a Newton, or a Goethe, and above
all, because the child is the future, and that must always taken
precedence of the past and the present. But to a mature man that is not
practicable. There are no more secre