"Good!" I cried, "I'm glad to hear it. That's what I want to do in Scotland; I want to crush the militarism in our schools, and, as most teachers call their militarism discipline, I curse discipline."
"That's all rubbish, you know," he said shortly.
"No it isn't. If I leather a boy for making a mistake in a sum, I am no better than the Prussian officer who shoots a Belgian civilian for crossing the street. I am equally stupid and a bully."
"Then you allow carelessness to go unpunished?" he sneered.
"I do. You see I am a very careless devil myself. I'll swear that I left your garden gate open when I came in, Mac, and your hens will be all over the road."
Mac looked out at the window.
"They are!" he chuckled, and I laughed.
"You seem to think that slovenliness is a virtue," said Simpson with a faint smile.
"I don't, really, but I hold that it is a natural human quality."