n the trouble. So I told poor ole Wes that my
father spoke my mother's name in a public place whenever he wanted
to, and I dared him to say my father was a pup. And all so on. A boy
startin' up a scrap, why, half the time he'll drag his father and mother
if there's any chance to do it. He'll fix up some way so he can say,
'Well, that's just the same as if you called my father and mother a
fool,' or something like that. Then, afterward, he can claim he was
scrappin' because he had to defend his father and mother, and of course
he'll more than half believe it himself.

"Well, you take a Government--it's only just some _men_, the way I see
it, and if they're goin' to start some big trouble like this war, why,
of course they'll play just about the same ole boy trick, because it's
instinct to do it, just the same for a man as it is for a boy--or else
the principle's just the same, or something. Well, anyhow, if you want
to know who started a scrap and worked it up, you got to forget all the
_talk_ there is about it, and all what each side _says_, and just look
at two things: Who was fixed for it first, or thought they were, and who
hit first? When you get the answer to those two questions everything's
settled about all this being 'attacked' business. Both sides, just the
same as boys, they'll both claim they _had_ to fight; but if you want to
know which one _did_ have to, why forget all the arguing and don't take
your eye off just what _happened_. As near as I can make out, this
war began with Germany and Austria startin' in to wipe out two little
countries; Austria began shootin' up Serbia, and Germany began shootin'
up Belgium. I don't need to notice any more than that, myself--all
the Werder girls in the country can debate their heads off, they can't
change what happened and they can't excuse it, either."

He was silent, appearing to feel that he had concluded conclusively, and
the young gentleman on the window seat, after staring at him for several
moments of genuine thoughtfulness, was gracious enough to observe,
"Well, ole Ram, you may be a little slow in class, but when you think
things out with yourself you do show signs of something pretty near like
real horse-sense sometimes. Why don't you ever say anything like that
to--to some of your pacifist friends?"

"What do you mean? Who you talkin' about? Whose 'pacifist friends'?"

"See here!" Fred exclaimed, as Ramsey seemed about to rise. "You keep
sitting just where