"That's true," said Jack quickly. "Only you were talking about giving your death, which isn't half so valuable."
George looked blank for a moment. The others laughed at his puzzled face, but he recovered himself promptly.
"I don't see why fighting isn't a good way to settle disputes," he said.
"So everybody used to think," said Jack. "If a man quarreled with his neighbor, it was the proper thing to have a duel. We don't have duels nowadays, and I think we are better off. Don't you remember, George, that day when we fought over the bag of marbles we found in an old cellar? It was years ago, when we were little fellows. Father found us fighting and sent us home. The next day he divided the marbles between us. I'm sure that was a better way than if I'd held you down a minute longer and got them all."
George had still a lively recollection of that fight.
"You were bigger than I was," he began.
"I know it," said Jack, "and because I was bigger, I should have got the marbles if father hadn't stopped me. But that wouldn't have made me the rightful owner of them. You had as much right to them as I had. Father talked to me, and made me see how silly our fighting was."
"Do you truly think that a man who stays at home can be as good a patriot as a soldier who goes to fight for his country?" asked George, feeling a little ashamed of his friend.
"I think that a man can do more for his country in time of peace than in war," said Jack. "And as for courage, I know it is harder to do some of the little, common, everyday things well than to do great deeds. Father says that the mothers are the real heroes in the world. I dare say it took more courage for some men to stay at home than for any of those in the regiment to go."
"But you never hear about the bravery of those men," objected George. "Of course, once in a while, there is a fire or a railroad accident, and somebody is very brave and heroic, but that is the exception."