sure if this boat gits saved 't will be the Holy Virgin does it or none
at all, at all! Git up,' sez I."

[Sidenote: The deep sea breeds a certain fineness of character.]

The officers were taken care of in the ward-room--rough unlettered old
sailormen, who possessed a certain fineness of character which I
believe the deep sea tends to breed in those who follow it long enough.
I have known some old Tartars greatly hated by those under them, but to
whom a woman or child would take naturally.

What you say about my possibly being taken prisoner both amuses and
touches me. The former because it seems so highly unlikely a
contingency. Submarines do not take prisoners if they can help it, and
least of all from a man-of-war. But I have often thought of just what I
should do in such a case, and I have decided that it would be far better
to die than to submit to certain things. In which case, I should use my
utmost ingenuity to take along one or two adversaries with me.


AUGUST 11.

[Sidenote: The case for universal conscription.]

So the boys at home don't all take kindly to being conscripted, eh?
Well, I wish for a lot of reasons that the conscription might be as
complete and far-reaching as it is in, for instance, France. I think for
one thing that universal conscription is the final test of democracy.
Again, I think it would do every individual in the nation good to find
out that there was something a little bit bigger than he--something that