THE LAST FRONTIER 



same token it is not his right to pretend that lux- 

 uries are necessities. That is to put himself into 

 the same category with the man who always finds 

 some other excuse for taking a drink than the simple 

 one that he wants it. 



The Englishman's point of view is that he objects 

 to "pigging it," as he says. "Pigging it" means 

 changing your home habits in any way. If you 

 have been accustomed to eating your sardines after 

 a meal, and somebody offers them to you first, that 

 is "pigging it." In other words, as nearly as I can 

 make out, "pigging it" does not so much mean doing 

 things in an inadequate fashion as doing them dif- 

 ferently. Therefore, the Englishman in the field 

 likes to approximate as closely as may be his life in 

 town, even if it takes one hundred and fifty men 

 to do it. Which reduces the "pigging it" argument 

 to an attempt at condemnation by calling names. 



The American temperament, on the contrary, 

 being more experimental and independent, prefers 

 to build anew upon its essentials. Where the Eng- 

 lishman covers the situation blanket-wise with his 

 old institutions, the American prefers to construct 

 new institutions on the necessities of the case. He 

 objects strongly to being taken care of too com- 

 pletely. He objects strongly to losing the keen 

 enjoyment of overcoming difficulties and enduring 



424 



