hearts. To what adventures I cannot tell, but I know that your
God is watching to see whether you are adventurous. I know that the
great partnership is only a first step, but I do not know what are
to be the next and the next. The partnership is but a tool; what
are you to do with it? Very little, I warn you, if you are merely
thinking of yourselves; much if what is at the marrow of your
thoughts is a future that even you can scarcely hope to see.

Learn as a beginning how world-shaking situations arise and how they
may be countered. Doubt all your betters who would deny you that
right of partnership. Begin by doubting all such in high places--
except, of course, your professors. But doubt all other professors--
yet not conceitedly, as some do, with their noses in the air; avoid
all such physical risks. If it necessitates your pushing some of us
out of our places, still push; you will find it needs some shoving.
But the things courage can do! The things that even incompetence
can do if it works with singleness of purpose. The war has done at
least one big thing: it has taken spring out of the year. And, this
accomplished, our leading people are amazed to find that the other
seasons are not conducting themselves as usual. The spring of the
year lies buried in the fields of France and elsewhere. By the time
the next eruption comes it may be you who are responsible for it and
your sons who are in the lava. All, perhaps, because this year you
let things slide.

We are a nice and kindly people, but it is already evident that we
are stealing back into the old grooves, seeking cushions for our old
bones, rather than attempting to build up a fairer future. That is
what we mean when we say that the country is settling down. Make
haste, or you will become like us, with only the thing we proudly