140 SAVAGE SURVIVALS 



body to back it up was generally regarded as the 

 one that the other men and boys would rather be 

 than anybody else. If a bruiser could step off to 

 one side at a gathering and announce in a loud, 

 boastful voice that he could ^4ick'' any one pres- 

 ent, and nobody dared to say a word or raise a 

 finger against him, that was the person every boy 

 down deep in his heart wanted to be like when he 

 grew up. 



This same primitive atmosphere may be found 

 today in certain circles in even the greatest cen- 

 ters of enlightenment of the race— in circles such 

 as are found at drinking and gambling places. 

 Drink tends to cause an individual to return 

 sharply to the savage type by dethroning the rea- 

 son and thus placing one more completely at the 

 mercy of the lower instincts. The practice men 

 have, and boys even more than men, of using their 

 fists in fighting is a survival of the old style of 

 fighting which prevailed among men before the 

 invention of weapons. In fighting, the wolf uses 

 its teeth, the buffalo its horns, the horse its feet, 

 and the lion its paw. Man is like the lion, he 

 strikes with his paw. 



The war instinct lies pretty close to the sur- 

 face in the natures of even the highest peoples, 

 for it is a very easy matter to stir it to action 

 even in times of profound peace. Let the neAvs- 

 papers print a few big black headlines and let 

 somebody begin to blow the bugle and beat the 

 drum, and we are ready to leap at the throat of 



