himself of the following: "Sure, toward the last, some o' thim
haythen gits down on their knees and starts calling on Allah; but I sez,
sez I, 'Git up afore I swat ye wid the axe-handle, ye benighted haythen;
sure if this boat gits saved 't will be the Holy Virgin does it or none
at all, at all! Git up,' sez I."

[Sidenote: The deep sea breeds a certain fineness of character.]

The officers were taken care of in the ward-room--rough unlettered old
sailormen, who possessed a certain fineness of character which I
believe the deep sea tends to breed in those who follow it long enough.
I have known some old Tartars greatly hated by those under them, but to
whom a woman or child would take naturally.

What you say about my possibly being taken prisoner both amuses and
touches me. The former because it seems so highly unlikely a
contingency. Submarines do not take prisoners if they can help it, and
least of all from a man-of-war. But I have often thought of just what I
should do in such a case, and I have decided that it would be far better
to die than to submit to certain things. In which case, I should use my
utmost ingenuity to take along one or two adversaries with me.

AUGUST 11.

[Sidenote: The case for universal conscription.]

So the boys at home don't all take kindly to being conscripted, eh?
Well, I wish for a lot of reasons that the conscription might be as
complete and far-reaching as it is in, for instance, France. I think for
one thing that universal conscription is the final test of democracy.
Again, I think it would do every individual in the nation good to find
out that there was something a little bit bigger than he--something that
neither money, nor politics, nor obscurity, nor the Labor Union, nor any
one else could help him to wriggle out of. It would go far towards
disillusioning those many who seem to feel that they do not have to take
too seriously a government because they have helped to create it.

[Sidenote: Not a question of courage but of mental process.]

While I have precious little sympathy for slackers of any variety, one
must not judge them too harshly because their minds do not happen to
work the same as ours. In nine cases out of ten it is not a question of
courage, but one of mental process. Some people come of a caste to whom
war or the idea of fighting for their country is second nature. They
take it for granted, like death and taxes. If they ever permitted
themselves seriously