NEW CONSCRIPTION
XVI. THE LAST OF THE RUNNYMEDES
XVII. CHILDREN OF THE STATE.
XVIII. THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS.
XIX. ABDUL'S RETREAT
XX. "NATIVES"
XXI. UNDER THE YOKE.
XXII. BLACK AND WHITE
XXIII. PEACE AND WAR IN THE BALANCE
XXIV. THE MAID
XXV. THE HEROINE
XXVI. THE PENALTY OF VIRTUE
XXVII. "THE DAILY ROUND"
XXVIII. THE CHARM OF COMMONPLACE
XXIX. THE PRIEST OF NEMI.
XXX. THE UNDERWORLD OF TIME.
XXXI. MENTAL EUGENICS
XXXII. THE MEDICINE OF THE MIND
XXXIII. THE LAST FENCE
XXXIV. THE ELEMENT OF CALM
XXXV. "THE KING OF TERRORS"
XXXVI. STRULDBRUGS
XXXVII. "LIBERTE, LIBERTE, CHERIE!"
XXXVIII. A FAREWELL TO FLEET STREET.
INDEX

ESSAYS IN REBELLION

I

THE CATFISH

Before the hustling days of ice and of "cutters" rushing to and fro
between Billingsgate and our fleets of steam-trawlers on the Dogger
Bank, most sailing trawlers and long-line fishing-boats were built with
a large tank in their holds, through which the sea flowed freely. Dutch
eel-boats are built so still, and along the quays of Amsterdam and
Copenhagen you may see such tanks in fishing-boats of almost every kind.
Our East Coast fishermen kept them chiefly for cod. They hoped thus to
bring the fish fresh and good to market, for, unless they were
overcrowded, the cod lived quite as contentedly in the tanks as in the
open sea. But in one respect the fishermen were disappointed. They found
that the fish arrived slack, flabby, and limp, though well fed and in
apparent health.

Perplexity reigned (for the value of the catch was much diminished)
until some fisherman of genius conjectured that the cod lived only too
contentedly in those tanks, and suffered from the atrophy of calm. The
cod is by nature a lethargic, torpid, and plethoric creature, prone to
inactivity, content to lie in comfort, swallowing all that comes, with
cavernous mouth wide open, big enough to gulp its own body down if that
could be. In the tanks the cod rotted at ease, rapidly deteriorating in
their flesh. So, as a stimulating corrective, that genius among
fishermen inserted one catfish into each of his tanks, and found that
his cod came to market firm, brisk, and wholesome. Which result remained
a mystery until his death, when the secret was published and a strange
demand for catfish arose. For the catfish is the demon of the deep, and
keeps things lively.

This irritating but salutary stimulant in the tank (to say noth