i68 With Feet to the Earth 



which merges and subjugates the individual, 

 amazingly multiplies his force. In my teens 

 I had to do guard duty at a hanging. Half 

 of our company was detailed to keep order 

 among the rough, curious, not ill-natured 

 multitude outside. After the fall of the 

 drop the crowd made a rush at the fence, 

 threw it down and poured into the yard 

 around the jail. Our relief, sixteen in 

 number, stood near the door when this oc- 

 curred. On an order to charge bayonets 

 we turned the corner of the building and 

 swept upon the crowd with a yell. Waver- 

 ing for a second, the human deluge turned 

 square about and ebbed toward the street 

 again, screaming, struggling, strewing the 

 ground with hats, parasols, and baby car- 

 riages. The sixteen had dispersed a thou- 

 sand, and without causing any injuries to 

 speak of. It was authority against dis- 

 order ; organization against crude force. 

 Individually the sixteen were outmatched 

 by many sixteens in the mob, but the latter 

 had no cohesion. 



Useful as cohesion is, socially, we should 

 not ask too much of it as individuals, al- 



