The Days of a Man 



takes away so much of our forces for action. The worst enemies 

 we have to fight are those within us. And there is no great 

 victory so satisfying as a conquest of the evil within. To have 

 the enemy all to ourselves, where we can get at him, fight him, 

 jump on him, and throw him out, gives us every satisfaction if 

 we succeed at last, and do not drift into the stream among the 

 deadwood of nonentities, whose service to the world does not 

 pay for their keep. 



Because to be clean is to be strong, because every drug which 

 touches the nervous system cuts the nerve power, I am pro- 

 foundly interested in helping young men to be sober and pure. 

 I believe in fair play among men, and hence in the endless 

 struggle against precedence and privilege which we call democ- 

 racy. This is the people's country, and it is for them to be wise 

 enough and just enough to hold their own against all tyranny of 

 organized interests or of organized ignorance. And the final 

 outcome depends on the individual. 



As the coat of mail vanished from European history almost 

 over night, so will the soldier and the warship vanish when all 

 men see clearly as you and I see now the wild, insensate folly of 

 it all. 



NOTE 



Upon final re-reading of this chapter, already paged I see 

 that by some oversight on my part I have omitted all mention 

 (in the main text) of a delightful surprise arranged for January 

 19 of this year. On that occasion, my sixtieth birthday, the 

 remaining members of the "Pioneer" faculty of Stanford 

 presented me with a very handsome gold watch, and the accom- 

 panying memorial of appreciation lent even greater affectionate 

 emphasis to the unexpected gift. 1 



1 See Appendix A of the present volume (page 783). 



n 348 



