a herd of moral lepers!"

"Not so fast, not so fast," Mr. Strong began to laugh at them. "In the
old days, Roger, we owed our successes at arms to luck, rather than to a
finely organized army. Washington couldn't have whipped the British
without France; we couldn't have held our own with them again in 1812 if
they hadn't been up to their ears in the Peninsular War, and unable to
send anything like an equal force over here to engage us. It's the
truth, Roger, and we lose nothing by admitting it! The Mexican War was a
vastly superior power against a little one, and the same condition
prevailed when we tackled Spain. Only once in our history did we find it
necessary to draft, and that was when we fought an antagonist--I will
not say an enemy--in every way our equal; that, Roger," he laid his hand
on the Colonel's arm and spoke tenderly, "was when we fought you."

The Colonel looked out of the window. His eyes blinked several times
before he replied, in the same gentle voice:

"By gad, Amos, you did have to draft then, didn't you!"

"We did, and I'm frank to say we should have done so in every war before
and after. It's the only fair way, and the only efficient way! But aside
from what we should have done, today we're fighting neither Mexico nor
Spain. We're fighting a blood-glutted monster whose breath is poisonous
gas, whose touch is fever, whose thoughts are leprous. This is too
serious an emergency to trust in the hands of a fallacious volunteer
system! The Government, by which I mean ourselves, must look to its
knitting with an alertness never before found necessary, or this time we
perish. And I want to tell you, Roger, with all solemnity, that there
may be a score of legitimate reasons why a young man should not
volunteer, but none to caste dishonor on his endraftment. This nation
merely says to its young fighting men, 'Step up, my sons!'--then, all
who should fight, will; and those who should not, won't! There is no way
more fair; there is no way more honorable! So do not re-utter your
sentiments, either of you!"

"I expect you're right," the Colonel murmured.

"I know I am. And you'll realize it next Tuesday, Roger, when you see
what fine types of young fellows come before you to be registered. I put
you down as a registrar," he added, "because I am to be one, also."

"Thank goodness I won't have to register," Jeb said contentedly. "I'm
going to the second camp."

"You'll have to register, all the same, Jeb