Rattling the Chains 



altogether of my own ordering. In 

 fact, far from it. 



Our "duty" is denned for us by cir- 

 cumstances beyond our own control. 

 Generations gone before have laid down 

 the law. Presumably whatever is is 

 right. At any rate, it does little good 

 to raise the question. That clever 

 Spaniard Ibanez has expressed this 

 thought in his title "The Dead Com- 

 mand." We may not go our way even 

 along peaceful lines free from the lash 

 that others ply incessantly. Our breth- 

 ren claim that right, and exercise it 

 mercilessly notwithstanding the scrip- 

 tural injunction, "Judge not lest ye be 

 judged." People with heads not shaped 

 like mine, and with hearts, stomachs, 

 legs, hopes, aspirations and ideals dif- 

 fering wholly in character and strength 

 from mine, dictate what I am expected 

 to do or not do; basing their declara- 

 tion of course upon the working of 

 their own brains and livers, not mine. 

 If I fail to observe their conclusions as 

 [23] 



