— Suppose somebody were to attack you
now, for instance; ought I not to fight for it?"
"I should like to have you," I said.
"Come!" he said, laughing, and stretching out his hand to
shake mine, — "I see you will let me keep my profession, after
all. And why should not a nation do, on a larger scale, what a
man may do?"
"Why it may," I said.
"Then — West Point is justified."
"But very few wars in the world are conducted on that
principle," I said.
"Very few. In fact I do not at this moment recollect the
instances. But you would allow a man, or a nation to fight in
self-defence, — would not you?"
I pondered the matter. "I suppose — he has a right to protect
his life," I said. "But 'if a man smite thee on the cheek,' —
_that_ does not touch life."
"What would you think of a man," said my companion gravely, —
"who should suffer some one to give him such a blow, without
taking any notice of it?"
"If he did it because he was _afraid_," I said, "of course I
shouldn't like that. But if he did it to obey the Bible — I
should think it was noble.
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