cks 'em all. Sometimes he
admits he had a little luck with the third man; but he gets two of the
cowards easy. Why, down in Red Gap only the other night I saw a kind of a
slight young man in a full-dress suit lick three big huskies that set on
him. He put two out with a punch apiece and got the third after about one
round of sparring. There he stood winner over all three, and hardly his
hair mussed; and you wouldn't of thought in the beginning that he could
lick one of the bunch. It was a good picture, all right, with this fight
coming in the first reel to start things off lively. But what I want to
know is why, out of these million fights that come off, you never hear a
word out of a loser! I'll bet all my Liberty Bonds right now that you
never yet heard a man tell about how he was licked in a fair fight."

I had to decline the wager. The most I could submit was that I had heard
some plausible excuses. The lady waved her entire knitting in
deprecation.

"Oh, excuses! You hear 'em a-plenty when the loser can't deny he was
licked. Most losers will odd things along till they sound even. I heard a
lovely excuse down in Red Gap. Hyman Leftowitz, who does business there
as Abercrombie, the Quality Tailor, made a suit for Eddie Pierce that
drives the depot hack, and Eddie was slow pay. So Hyman lost his native
tact one night and dunned Eddie when he was walking down Fourth Street
with his girl. Eddie left his girl in at the Owl Drug Store and went back
and used Hyman hard; and all Hyman did was to yell 'Help!' and 'Murder!'
I was in his shop for a fitting next day and Hyman's face arrested the
attention much more than usual. It showed that Eddie had done something
with him. So I says: 'Why didn't you fight back? What was your fists
for?' And Hyman says: 'I pledge you my word I didn't know it was a
fight.' Oh, excuses--sure! But that ain't what I'm getting at. You've
heard the winners talk, like we all have, how they did it with the good
old right hook to the jaw, or how they landed one straight left and all
was over; but did you ever hear any talk from a loser without excuses,
one who come out plain and said he was licked by a better man?"

We debated this briefly. We agreed that the reticence of losers is due
to something basic in human nature; a determination of the noblest sort
to disregard failure--that is, Ma Pettengill said you couldn't expect
everything of human nature when it had its earrings in, and I agreed in
as